The Real Vitamin C

This Post has been updated for 2017!

Excerpt from Dr. Robert Thompson, The Calcium Lie II: What Your Doctor Still Doesn’t Know (Take Charge Books, 2013)

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Visit the website to learn more: http://www.calciumlie.com

From Kathleen 2017: 

When Dr. Thompson and I wrote the second edition of The Calcium Lie, four years ago, it was still considered “fringe science.” Today, thanks to Dr. Thompson’s wisdom and clinical research that has validated the basic science that he presents in the book to confirm that calcium supplementation is harmful for almost everybody, these ideas are becoming mainstream. The Vitamin C Lie is the next medical myth of fall. 

Here’s a funny little anecdote: I have a new doctor, an MD who I am coming to love and respect for his wisdom and his resistance to mainstream medicine. On my first visit to him, I gave him a list of the supplements I take, which include calcium. I am one of the 5% of people who, after a hair tissue mineral analysis, shows I need it. His immediate response, seeing that I take calcium, was to tell me how destructive it can be and how I shouldn’t be taking it, according to this
great book” he had read called, you guessed it, The Calcium Lie!  I laughed and explained to him that I was the co-author of that book and assured him that Dr. Thompson put his stamp of approval on limited calcium supplements for me. That was the start of a great relationship.  

Over the winter, Dr. Thompson and I will begin work on a new book, The Vitamin C Lie, that we promise will give you another key to lifelong health. Here’s a preview:

I’m really passionate about the importance of real vitamin C—whole food vitamin C, not the garbage that is made from ascorbic acid alone. Here’s a rundown of what happens when you are deficient in this vital nutrient.

1. Elevated cholesterol: Our bodies cannot metabolize cholesterol without the real C molecule, which is required for copper utilization. It is logical to conclude that all persons with elevated cholesterol are vitamin C deficient. Having elevated cholesterol is more likely a vitamin C molecule deficiency problem, not a statin drug deficiency problem.

2. Chronic anemia: Our bodies cannot make hemoglobin without the C molecule and the mineral copper, which cannot be utilized in the body without the real Vitamin C. It is pretty amazing how fast a lifelong anemia corrects with the real C molecule being given on a regular basis. Iron, although necessary is much less important than the C molecule.

3. Hemorrhage and easy bruising: Blood cannot clot without the C molecule and, without C, tissues become fragile and vessels break easily. This is why scurvy was known as “hemorrhagic disease,” from severe and prolonged vitamin C molecule deficiency.

This is the reason, in my opinion, for the increased maternal death from hemorrhage in childbirth, which has been seen in the last 10 years, increasing for the first time in the past 50 years. The prenatal “vitamins” taken by nearly all pregnant women actually deplete our patient’s Vitamin C levels to a dangerous and life threatening degree, thus contributing to clotting factor deficiencies and increased risk of hemorrhage, especially due to the “K” factor deficiency.

Because connective tissue strength is determined by the whole C molecule, C deficiency or taking ascorbic acid in standard prenatal “vitamins” which depletes your C levels, may also be a significant contributing factor to premature rupture of membranes, cervical incompetence, preterm labor and delivery, anemia, pelvic tissue weakness, stretch marks, and more.

I used to recommend supplementing with berries as the most likely source of fruit derived whole food Vitamin C. While this recommendation is still correct, I have discovered that they spray commercial berries with methyl bromide to stop mold growth. This bromine issue is extremely important and could be a huge concern with regard to the development of breast, prostate, ovarian, thyroid, and possibly pancreatic cancer.

So, unless you grow or pick wild berries yourself, you do not know for sure what you are getting. To heat them is to kill them, so consume only fresh or frozen berries to get the whole food C molecule. Heated jams, jellies, and fruit pies, while absolutely delicious, deplete our Vitamin C.

4. Atherosclerotic plaque and vascular disease: I may not be the first to suggest that vitamin C deficiency is the problem in plaque-forming vascular disease, but I might be one of the first to truly state what it means for these patients to be C deficient because of this ascorbic acid deception. The C molecule and copper utilization are responsible for the connective tissue strength and healing of every tissue in the human body. Without C (the real thing), the cells of our arterial walls do not hold together very well and they become leaky, especially near the heart where the pressures are the greatest. The healing response is to lay down a patch, or plaque, to stop the leaks. Cholesterol is not the issue in most cases.

The C molecule deficiency model as a cause of heart and vascular disease fits more accurately than any other theory thus far proposed. This concept is so simple and so important to our health that this change of awareness cannot happen fast enough. But first, physicians and nutrition leaders must recognize that ascorbic acid is not vitamin C, it depletes vitamin C from the body, and it has numerous harmful effects, unlike the real C molecule. This is The Vitamin C Lie.

5. Connective tissue weakness: Joint, back, neck, knees, disks, cartilage, ligaments or tendons, fascia, and the like, quite literally every piece of connective tissue in the human body requires the C molecule for its strength as well as the right concentrations of the minerals zinc and copper to be healthy. By the way, our connective tissue is supposed to be stronger than bone. This is not what we see. Copper cannot be utilized by the body and connective tissue cannot be formed correctly without the whole food C molecule.

Accordingly, nearly all back and neck disk degeneration, nearly every tendon rupture, nearly every knee ligament tear, nearly every hernia, every bulge, sag, droop, pinch and tissue “fall”, nearly all pelvic relaxation from torn ligaments in childbirth, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, spider veins, loss of cartilage in joints leading to replacements, and more orthopedic operations than we can imagine to the tune of billions of dollars could all be most often prevented if we all had adequate whole food Vitamin C from early on in life.

6. Type 1 Hypothyroidism: Thyroid hormone cannot be produced by the thyroid gland without the vitamin C molecule. Most Type 1 hypothyroidism is probably related to chronic C deficiency. As we noted in Chapter 5, vitamin C regenerates seleno-proteins as well as facilitating copper utilization, both necessary for the formation of Thyroid hormone. Therefore, the combination of C deficiency and selenium deficiency should be an exact recipe for developing Type 1 hypothyroidism (failure of hormone production).

When we start to look at this vitamin C deficiency problem realistically, it becomes overwhelming in significance. I still cannot understand why it was allowed to happen. I also suffered from it myself for many years. I recognize the lack of awareness and the ignorance of some who argue that all we need is ascorbic acid.