norskog (03/25/83)
#N:fortune:21300006:000:161
fortune!norskog Mar 24 14:13:00 1983
Another problem with vitamin C megadosage is that when you stop, you get:
Scurvy!
Lance Norskog
Fortune Systems
{megatest,hpda}!fortune!norskogtiberio (03/31/83)
It is my understanding that we humans are the only mammals that do not manufacture vitamin c. So folks consider this a genetic defect.
daryoush@sdcsvax.UUCP (Daryoush Morshedian) (08/08/84)
Is 4g of vitamin C per day too much for men of age 20-25? What are the symptoms of vitamin C overdose? --James Tobin
sdi@loral.UUCP (Steve Irwin) (08/08/84)
>Is 4g of Vit. C ok for ages 20-25.
I have used Adelle Davis as a vitamin reference for years.
I have found that when you are in a toxic environment (eg. LA) or
are ill, you can take up to 1g of vitamin C an hour without any
harmful affects. Since vitamin is water soluble it is passed
through the system very fast. In fact it passes through the system
within approx. one hours time hence the need for replenishment to
keep your body at maximum dosage. You should start off with less
and work up to a max if you are looking to handle something as the
dosages affect people differently. The worst side affect of over
dosing Vitamin C is diarrhea. If that happens just cut back about
250mg.
Also on ages 20-25 - there is nothing special that I know of concerning
this age group. I am 30 and take dosages as above, the same as when I
was 19 so I don't have any data there.
******rjb@akgua.UUCP (R.J. Brown [Bob]) (08/08/84)
Jim,
I don't have the references on this one but the so-called
"toxic" dose is in the range of 2 + grams per day.
The reason for the quotes is the there appears to be a theoretical
risk for kidney stones in a small percentage of the population
who expose themselves to megadoses of C. However, I have never
seen any documentation on this from the Medical Establishment -
only a lot of blather.
From a practical standpoint, you will probably be bothered by
some diarrhea if you load up on C too much for your individual
system.
Another frequently cited problem is "rebound scurvy" which may
occur if you quit your intake of C abruptly. This too appears
to be an arm waving exercise since if you want to change your C
intake level you can taper off.
I have been pleased with the results of 1.5 - 2.0 gms C intake
for most of the last 10 years.
"I am not a doctor nor do I know any personally."
Bob Brown {...ihnp4!akgua!rjb}
AT&T Technologies, Inc.............. Norcross, Ga
(404) 447-3784 ... Cornet 583-3784curts@mako.UUCP (08/09/84)
I recently read a book called "Food for Champions". Although this
book is intended for athletes, it contains an amazing amount of
useful information about how our bodies work. Some of the material
is a little "opinionated", but overall the points are well researched
and supported by references.
The thing that impressed me most about the book was, after claiming
that there was no reason to take vitamins supplements, the authors
supported their view with a table that showed the symptoms of both
vitamin deficiency and vitamin overdose. In many cases, the symptoms
for deficiency and overdose are the same. What is more, many vitamins
are only assimilated if they are present in a specific ratio to other
vitamins.
As a writer, I'm a little sensitive to plagiarism so I simply
recommend this book rather than reproduce anything but generalities.
---
Curt Stephens
Engineering Computing Systems
Tektronix, Inc.
UUCP: {hplabs,ucbvax,decvax,pur-ee,cbosg,ihnss}!tektronix!mako!curts
CSNET: tekecs!curts @ tektronix
ARPA: tekecs!curts.tektronix @ rand-relayhoward@metheus.UUCP (Howard A. Landman) (08/10/84)
The least anybody says you should get (these days) is 60 mg. That's the FDA RDA. The most anybody says you should get is 12000 mg. That's Linus Pauling based on studies of how much C there is in the tissues of animals that can synthesize their own. One way to "play it conservative" would be to take the geometric mean of these, or about 848 mg. Myself, I lean toward Linus a little bit, so I take 1000 to 1500 mg daily, spread out into two or three doses (it works better that way). It's also worth noting that both the FDA and Linus have increased their estimates in the last five years (the FDA used to say 30 mg, Linus used to say 10000 mg), so the high side seems to be a little bit better bet. There should normally be no real problems with 4 gm (4000 mg) per day, as long as you drink enough water to handle the C that eventually gets eliminated in the urine, and DON'T suddenly go back to not taking any. Your body adjusts to the amounts of various vitamins it gets, especially in the efficiency of the digestive uptake. You should taper up or down any time you are changing your intake. Howard A. Landman ogcvax!metheus!howard (till August 14th) "What in the world ever became of Sweet Jane? She's lost her sparkle you know she isn't the same. Living on reds, vitamin C and cocaine All a friend can say is ain't it a shame."
saquigley@watmath.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) (08/10/84)
I onced overdosed on vitamin C (my own stupidity, I took 10 gr thinking
I was taking 1 gr) and the symptoms I had were severe diahrrea (sp?) and
feeling very sick to the stomach, not being able to eat, as well as
being extremely tired. Also, the smell of the vitamins permeated my
whole body for 3 or 4 days, or so I felt it.
All this because I had a cold. My cold did stop, but it was not worth it.
Sophie Quigley
...!{clyde,ihnp4,decvax}!watmath!saquigleyrwh@aesat.UUCP (Russell Herman) (08/10/84)
There's been a lot of talk on the net about the relationship of Vitamin C
and kidney stones. I discussed it with my urologist, as I am 1) a stone-former;
2) limiting my supplemental Vitamin C to 300mg/day. I was told that large
(unspecified) amounts of Vitamin C can trigger or aggravate a tendency to
form uric acid stones. This is only one, and not the most common one, of the
types of kidney stones. The reason some people form stones and others not is
unknown most of the time; by megadosing Vitamin C you may discover that
you are a stone-former. [end of paraphrase of urologist]
It seems to me that, if you believe in/wish to test its efficacy for
whatever afflictions trouble/frighten you, you may wish to incur the risk.
--
______ Russ Herman
/ \ {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!aesat!rwh
@( ? ? )@
( || ) The opinions above are strictly personal, and
( \__/ ) do not reflect those of my employer (or even
\____/ possibly myself an hour from now.)sechrest@orstcs.UUCP (sechrest) (08/10/84)
it was recommended to me to take 4g of vitamin C per day. There are some health risks though. 1) Kidney problems. Vitamin C is water soluble. If you have a lot of It in your blood your kidneys have to work harder. 2) Kidney stones. If you flucuate the amount you take you are in danger of getting kidney stones. Appearently, You kidneys get used to some amount of waste going thru. If you reduce or increase the amounts drastically, then they tend to develop kidney stones. 3) scurvy. Once again, if you are taking LARGE doses of vitamin C jsj In summary, I know people who are taking 4g a day..( I take 2g) But there are risks involved. If you do take as much as 4g, work your way up to that dosage slowly , over a week or so. Spread the intake over the day. Taking 4 1g tablets 4 times a day is much better than taking them all at once in the morning. And Lastly, If you are taking 4g, don't stop quickly. Ease off of the dosage over a week, the same way that you eased on. John Sechrest oregon-state@sechrest PS. I would like to give references, but I don't remember where I got the info. I think that "Mental and Element Nutrients" by Pfiefer is one source.
mrp@inmet.UUCP (08/19/84)
#R:sdcsvax:-109500:inmet:11200007:000:1597 inmet!mrp Aug 17 10:22:00 1984 James- As an avid fan of Vitamin C , I have done some research into the subject (and discoverd that relatively little research has been done). The popular AMA line is that anything over 1 to 1.5 grams per day is potentially toxic. The theory is that excessive C can cause the exacerbation/formation of kidney stones due to the conversion of C into oxalic acid. The only study which I found (sorry , I don't have the name at my keyboard tips) indicated that this complication was extremely rare and tended to occur in those people who ALREADY had kidney stones. Other side effects can be gastric disturbances, diarhhea (forgive the spelling), and excessive flatulence. Some resources you might want to check out are Linus Pauling's books . After a long struggle with the American Cancer Institute, he has recently received funding for research into the effects of C on cancer. (This was after being turned down for research $$. The supportive evidence was finally so overwhelming that the ACI finally had to admit that there just might be something to investigate here). Another source to look into is Durk & Sandy Pierson's LIFE EXTENSION books. By the way- I've been taking 3-8 grams of C per day for over a year, and the frequent blood tests I have had taken for screening toxicity have all shown me to be in excellent shape. But as in all things, let your conscience be your guide. I take these megadoses because of a serious illness. I don't know if I would be as gung-ho otherwise. Either way, good luck in your hunt for good health. Robin Camardo Intermetrics, Inc.
werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (03/15/85)
> {} > > Concerning this experiment at the Mayo clinic I would like to know if > the vitamin C used was natural or synthetic. At least tjs didn't go on to claim that natural and synthetic Vitamin C were chemically different. Although I haven't heard of Vitamin P per se - I will accept that Bioflavenoids are a real entity. However, it seems like nit-picking. The argument, "Well, the reason it didn't work was because you didn't do the experiment right." seems to be grasping at straws. Even Linus Pauling Institute, on this very net, admitted that the best they could get (and they are quite partisan) was barely statistically significant, certainly not dramatic. (By "partisan", I make no judgement of their scientific rigor, which I expect to be very good.) > I do know that is very difficult for medical people to > withold their medical marvels because they feel they are depriving the > patient. Try telling that to: 1. the patients 2. the malpractice lawyers. -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner What do you expect? Watermelons are out of season!
kolling@decwrl.UUCP (Karen Kolling) (11/23/85)
> 2. It doesn't reduce the NUMBER of colds, just how long each one lasts, > which works out to about 1-2 days. Note this is only true if you take the > Vitamin C in advance, not upon onset of symptoms. I haven't found the latter to be true -- if I take megadoses of Vitamin C (a gram every hour for 5-6 hours) AFTER I start to feel a cold coming on, I can clobber the cold. I suspect they may have just tested the 1 gram a day dose, which isn't sufficient once a cold has started.
mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) (12/01/85)
In article <1500@decwrl.UUCP>, kolling@decwrl.UUCP (Karen Kolling) writes: > > > > 2. It doesn't reduce the NUMBER of colds, just how long each one lasts, > > which works out to about 1-2 days. Note this is only true if you take the > > Vitamin C in advance, not upon onset of symptoms. > > I haven't found the latter to be true -- if I take megadoses of Vitamin C > (a gram every hour for 5-6 hours) AFTER I start to feel a cold coming on, > I can clobber the cold. I suspect they may have just tested the 1 gram a day > dose, which isn't sufficient once a cold has started. I have found that a single 1000 mg tablet before bed on the first day I feel a scratchy throat prevents the cold. If I miss the chance, a cold inevitably develops. I always let the pill dissolve a little before swallowing or chew it up; maybe the people in the study didn't do that. Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)
hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (12/04/85)
In article <329@weitek.UUCP> mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) writes: >I have found that a single 1000 mg tablet before bed on the first day I >feel a scratchy throat prevents the cold. If I miss the chance, a cold >inevitably develops. I always let the pill dissolve a little before >swallowing or chew it up; maybe the people in the study didn't do that. Two comments: 1) Chewing 1000 mg vitamin C tablets or letting them dissolve in your mouth is hazardous to your teeth. Vitamin C = ascorbic _acid_. I've heard of one case of a woman who virtually destroyed her molars by chewing three pills a day for _less than a year_. 2) I find I get a similar prophylactic effect by drinking orange juice when I feel a cold threatening. My dentist tells me my teeth are in great shape. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp(+)TTI The more I work with C, the more I 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. appreciate the simple elegance of Santa Monica, CA 90405 FORTRAN. (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe
barb@oliven.UUCP (Barbara Jernigan) (12/13/85)
> ...if I take megadoses of Vitamin C > (a gram every hour for 5-6 hours) AFTER I start to feel a cold coming on, > I can clobber the cold. It is possible that *YOU* clobber the cold, not the Vitamin C. Placebos *do* work. But then, I write from a contrary prejudice -- I am allergic to concentrated Vitamin C (I can drink orange juice -- but not in mega amounts). Barb