- Jul 28, 2016
- 4,805
- 10,197
"Eat your greens!" Many of us have had parents speak, prod, poke or yell these words at us, probably with varying degrees of frustration or resignation.
Could they have been onto something worthwhile? Could those leafy greens have contained something (many things?
) worth crunching through your salad?
It seems even more likely now than before. Articles like the first article cited below discuss how practitioners like Dr Paul Marik have seen the sickest of patients coming to hospital with infections can be saved from the brink with one of the (many) vitamins and nutrients in our green leafies, citrus fruits, peppers and various other orange coloured fruits and veggies. Who is this mysterious vitamin you may ask? Have I heard of it before? Can I find it nearby?
Yes, you probably have found it before and most of us have easy access to (drum roll)
Actually, the protocol Dr Marik uses involves some differences from just grabbing a couple of oranges from the fruit basket or making sure to eat a salad each day. But then the patients he was trying this protocol on were a whole lot sicker than most of us. For many he didn't hold out much hope of survival using the typical treatments. He also notes that, when tested, their levels of this vital nutrient were often too low to measure. I don't know what anybody reading this thinks, but I'm thinking "Why wouldn't I keep my supplies high so that if/when I need to fight infection, my body's ready? After all, I really like salad, peppers and orange squashes and there is nothing like a little citrus to keep meals and drinks fresh." And (see below amongst the articles quoted) the main side effect of even high doses seems to be diarrhea which goes away if the does is lowered, so not much to worry about there.
The protocol discussed in the paper involves injections of vitamin C plus a steroid to reduce inflammation and thiamin (another vitamin!; B1) to help absorption into the organs that need it. The paper is easy to read and puts a whole new spin on the old idea of making sure to eat enough vitamin C. It touches on a few other intriguing topics of new medical approaches or treatments that seemed 'too good to be true' at the time they were first proposed such as antibiotics to treat the bacteria causing ulcers and hand washing before delivering babies. Keep reading until the end for this when the stories of a few Aussie docs and Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis comes up to get these historical tidbits. Their stories really put things in perspective and teach us how we can either learn from history or repeat similar mistakes.
Note:
For those not old enough to recall, the Nobel prize winning scientist Linus Pauling went on to research this area and was so impressed by the health effects of eating lots of vitamin C without ill effects that he spoke to everyone and anyone about it. This was not well received by some and his career was affected by the backlash. So this is not a new idea, amongst scientists nor parents trying to convince their kids to eat up the good stuff.
Articles:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/could-deadly-infections-be-cured-vitamin-c-180963843/
This work has prompted a bunch of other studies and discusssions which include:
Note the first study here (which takes a look at many studies together) concludes that the main side effect to expect when taking high doses of vitamin C would be diarrhea.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2099400/
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03389555 (results due later this year)
https://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-018-2217-4
https://www.mdedge.com/emergencymedicine/article/195843/critical-care/vitamin-c-sepsis-experts-take-sides-sharp-debate?oc_slh=80de32103a49e5451a5ce25646d88b472317e895a9a9822bc58ccc385db8cbe4&utm_source=News_EM_eNL_031319_F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Vitamin C for sepsis? Experts take sides in sharp debate
Could they have been onto something worthwhile? Could those leafy greens have contained something (many things?
) worth crunching through your salad?It seems even more likely now than before. Articles like the first article cited below discuss how practitioners like Dr Paul Marik have seen the sickest of patients coming to hospital with infections can be saved from the brink with one of the (many) vitamins and nutrients in our green leafies, citrus fruits, peppers and various other orange coloured fruits and veggies. Who is this mysterious vitamin you may ask? Have I heard of it before? Can I find it nearby?
Yes, you probably have found it before and most of us have easy access to (drum roll)
Vitamin C
Actually, the protocol Dr Marik uses involves some differences from just grabbing a couple of oranges from the fruit basket or making sure to eat a salad each day. But then the patients he was trying this protocol on were a whole lot sicker than most of us. For many he didn't hold out much hope of survival using the typical treatments. He also notes that, when tested, their levels of this vital nutrient were often too low to measure. I don't know what anybody reading this thinks, but I'm thinking "Why wouldn't I keep my supplies high so that if/when I need to fight infection, my body's ready? After all, I really like salad, peppers and orange squashes and there is nothing like a little citrus to keep meals and drinks fresh." And (see below amongst the articles quoted) the main side effect of even high doses seems to be diarrhea which goes away if the does is lowered, so not much to worry about there.
The protocol discussed in the paper involves injections of vitamin C plus a steroid to reduce inflammation and thiamin (another vitamin!; B1) to help absorption into the organs that need it. The paper is easy to read and puts a whole new spin on the old idea of making sure to eat enough vitamin C. It touches on a few other intriguing topics of new medical approaches or treatments that seemed 'too good to be true' at the time they were first proposed such as antibiotics to treat the bacteria causing ulcers and hand washing before delivering babies. Keep reading until the end for this when the stories of a few Aussie docs and Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis comes up to get these historical tidbits. Their stories really put things in perspective and teach us how we can either learn from history or repeat similar mistakes.
Note:
For those not old enough to recall, the Nobel prize winning scientist Linus Pauling went on to research this area and was so impressed by the health effects of eating lots of vitamin C without ill effects that he spoke to everyone and anyone about it. This was not well received by some and his career was affected by the backlash. So this is not a new idea, amongst scientists nor parents trying to convince their kids to eat up the good stuff.
Articles:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/could-deadly-infections-be-cured-vitamin-c-180963843/
This work has prompted a bunch of other studies and discusssions which include:
Note the first study here (which takes a look at many studies together) concludes that the main side effect to expect when taking high doses of vitamin C would be diarrhea.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2099400/
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03389555 (results due later this year)
https://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-018-2217-4
https://www.mdedge.com/emergencymedicine/article/195843/critical-care/vitamin-c-sepsis-experts-take-sides-sharp-debate?oc_slh=80de32103a49e5451a5ce25646d88b472317e895a9a9822bc58ccc385db8cbe4&utm_source=News_EM_eNL_031319_F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Vitamin C for sepsis? Experts take sides in sharp debate
