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The Vitamin C Effect
Many scientific phenomena, perhaps a majority of them, ultimately obey or follow
fairly simple laws of nature, once
 discovered
and understood. The scientific concepts we understand the least are often
cloaked in the most complex of language and theories. When any scientist cannot
clearly explain his or her research to a layperson unschooled in that area,
there usually exists a corresponding lack of complete understanding by that
scientist. One can research the outer layer of an onion indefinitely without
having any understanding of what is going on several layers deeper. Yet the
onion as a whole can remain a mystery even though mountains of research data
might have been generated on the outer layer.
While researching
thousands of articles over the last few years in the preparation of my latest
book on vitamin C (Levy, 2002), interesting patterns began to emerge. Even
though the effects of vitamin C on over 25 different infectious diseases and
over 100 different toxins were examined, common mechanisms of action became
apparent. This was especially significant to me since I had long wondered how a
single chemical entity (ascorbate, or vitamin C) could have such dramatically
positive clinical effects on such a wide array of completely unrelated chemical
compounds and infectious agents. Quite literally, there seemed to be no
exceptions to this vitamin C effect. Even if vitamin C did not cure a given
infection or toxic state, it always helped resolve such a condition to some
degree.
Electron Flow and Exchange
Dr. Albert
Szent-Gyorgyi, the brilliant scientist who won the Nobel Prize in 1937 for his
discovery of vitamin C, also advanced
 what
I would call a true theory of life in two of his last publications.
Szent-Gyorgyi (1978,1980) asserted that energy exchange in the body can only
occur when there is an imbalance of electrons among different molecules,
assuring that electron flow must take place. Natural electron donators give up
electrons to natural electron acceptors. Szent-Gyorgyi maintained that dead
tissue had a full complement of electrons, a state in which no further exchange
or flow of electrons could take place.
Another way of
viewing this is that brisk electron flow and interchange equals health, impaired
or poor electron flow and interchange equals disease, and cessation of flow and
interchange equals death. Vitamin C, as the premier antioxidant in the body, is
perhaps the most important ongoing electron donor to keep this electron flow at
optimal levels.
Oxidation involves
the loss of electrons, and an antioxidant counters this process by supplying
electrons. Although vitamin C is the most important antioxidant in the body,
there are many different anti- oxidants present in the body, and many of them
work to keep the more important antioxidant substances in the body in the
reduced state, which allows the donation of electrons. For example, vitamin E is
an antioxidant that is fat soluble, which is important in allowing it to be the
primary antioxidant present in the lipid-rich cell membranes of the body.
Vitamin C, which is water soluble, helps to recharge oxidized vitamin E in those
cell membranes back to the electron-rich reduced form. Even though vitamin C is
not the primary antioxidant in the cell wall, it plays a vital role in
maintaining the optimal levels of the metabolically active antioxidant, vitamin
E, at that site.
It appears, then,
that the local loss of electrons (oxidation) represents the primary
degeneration, or metabolic breakdown, of the tissue or chemical substance losing
the electrons. An antioxidant can serve to immediately restore this loss of
electrons, resulting in a prompt "repair" of that acutely oxidized tissue. Also,
an antioxidant can often neutralize the oxidizing agent before it gets a chance
to oxidize, or damage, the tissue initially.
All Oxidation Damage May Be Repaired
All of the vitamin
C / toxin exposure studies reviewed showed one or more of the following findings
or consequences in the test tube, tissue, intact animal, or human studied:
1. Decreased levels of vitamin C and other
antioxidants (blood and/or the tissues most specifically affected)
2. Increased levels of oxidative stress in the
test setting, indicating ongoing oxidation
3. Increased liver production of vitamin C (in
those species capable of this), as an adaptive response
4. Increased rates of consumption of vitamin C
and other antioxidants
5. A direct correlation between toxin activity
and antioxidant levels (lower antioxidant levels, greater clinical toxicity)
6. The acute induction of scurvy or other
clinical findings consistent with the acute depletion of vitamin C.
It is important to
reemphasize that the above findings were always part of the toxin exposure
situation regardless of the chemical structure of the toxin. One conclusion that
can be reached from this information is simple, elegant, and very compelling:
All toxins poison by oxidizing enzymes and tissues.
There is also a
compelling conclusion generated by this observation and supported by the vitamin
C studies found in the scientific literature: All toxic damage can be
repaired by a high enough dose of antioxidants.
Of course, such
therapy must be given in a timely fashion, before irreversible clinical
consequences have occurred in the poisoned subject.
Commonality of Toxins and Disease
Interestingly,
infectious diseases inflict their damage in essentially the same way as toxins.
As virulent microbes grow inside a host, one or more of the same six findings as
already listed above will reliably be observed. Basically, microbial growth is
just another way to directly cause oxidative damage to the tissues most directly
involved. Some of the most devastating infectious diseases also produce potent
toxins that further increase the oxidative damage and stress to the infected
host.
Chronic disease can
be viewed as a process in which the oxidative stress proceeds at a much slower
pace than is seen with acute infectious diseases and acute toxin exposures.
Vigorous antioxidant therapy goes a long way in reversing the clinical
manifestations of such diseases as well, as long as the dose administered
supplies enough electrons on a daily basis to reverse the ongoing oxidative
damage from the disease process.
Magnetic Therapies and Oxidation
Unipolar magnetic
therapies probably affect electron delivery to an injured site as well.
Electricity is considered the flow of electrons. Putting a magnetic field in
motion will induce electricity. Electron flow would appear to be intimately
involved in the physical and biological effects of magnetism. The work of Davis
and Rawls (1975,1979) established nicely that a North pole magnetic exposure
decreased inflammation and pain, while suppressing microbial growth.
The South pole had the opposite biological effects. One possible explanation for
these findings is that a North pole magnetic field facilitates the delivery of
electrons into exposed tissue, while the South pole facilitates the transport of
electrons away from exposed tissue. Regardless, the proper use of the North pole
of a strong biomagnet closely mimics the effects of vitamin C delivered
systemically. Kulish (1999) summarizes the effects of such biomagnetic therapies
nicely.
Is compromised
electron flow the final common denominator in producing the symptoms and effects
of most (or all) diseases, infections, and toxin exposures? Regardless of the
answer, the vigorous and persistent dosing of antioxidant therapy, as discussed
and researched in my new vitamin C book, appears to deliver consistently
positive and dramatic clinical outcomes.
Bibliography
Davis, A. and W. Rawls.
(1975) The Magnetic Effect. Kansas City, MO: Acres U.S.A.
Davis, A. and W. Rawls.
(1979) The Magnetic Blueprint of Life. Kansas City, MO: Acres U.S.A.
Kulish, P. (1999) Conquering
Pain. The Art of Healing with Biomagnetism. Fountainville,
PA: Fountainville Press.
Levy, T. (2002) Vitamin C,
Infectious Diseases, and Toxins: Curing the Incurable. Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris
Corporation.
Szent-Gyorgyi, A. (1978) How
new understandings about the biological function of ascorbic acid may profoundly
affect our lives. Executive Health 14(8): 1-4.
Szent-Gyorgyi, A. (1980) The
living state and cancer. Physiological Chemistry and Physics 12(2):99-110.
Copyright ©2002 by Thomas E. Levy, M.D., J.D. All Rights Reserved.
Scanned, recognized and reprinted with the permission of the author. By Jackson
Snyder, August 5, 2007. |
