Question
Does it really boost the immune system?? I hear so much conflicting info, it’s hard to tell what’s legit and what isn’t.
Answer
Vitamin C most certainly does boost the immune system. The problem is that people don’t use nearly enough of it.
Understand what follows is what I do, and what I’ve garnered from reading and real world testing with vitamin C over many decades.
How Vitamin C Boosts Your Immune System
First, understand that Vitamin C enhances your immune system in no less than 20 different ways.
Just to give you an idea, In one study very modest amounts of supplemental vitamin C (200 mg per day) resulted in an 80% decrease in deaths among severely ill persons, hospitalized with respiratory disease. [Hunt C. The clinical effects of vitamin C supplementation in elderly hospitalized patients with an acute respiratory infection. Int J Vit Nut Res 1994;64:212-19]
That is NOTHING compared to what it can do in higher doses, in my opinion. Just to give you an idea.. a 1999 Study looking at “The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing and relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections” went like this…
Those in the control population (hundreds of them, and the mean age was in the early 30’s) reporting symptoms were treated with pain relievers and decongestants, whereas those in the test population (again, hundreds) were treated with hourly doses of 1000 mg of Vitamin C for the first 6 hours, then 3 grams daily thereafter.
And, what did they find? Overall, reported flu and cold symptoms in the test group decreased 85% after the administration of megadose Vitamin C.
My Take: 6 grams a day orally is hardly a mega-dose. So what you’re seeing here is just scratching the surface of what a real mega-dose of Vitamin C can do.
Megadose Vitamin C
In fact, megadose Vitamin C is being used now in hospitals (although good luck finding a Dr. versed in such). Again, to give you an idea, there are companies now providing 25, 50, 75 and 100g/day IV vitamin C protocols, complete with recommendations for complexing with other compounds (such as sodium bicarbonate) and hourly drip rates.
High dose vitamin C has proven to have benefits in everything from the common cold to cancer. If you don’t believe that, google “great vitamin C presentation anabolicminds” – it’s the first link.
Or even better, google the works of a one Dr. Frederick R. Klenner, who was even more instrumental than the Nobel Prize Winner Linus Pauling, universally considered the “father of Vitamin C”.
It’s a 2 hour presentation, but what you’re about to hear could save your life – it’s that good.
Recommendation
I’d take anywhere from 5 to 10g/day orally, as a simple preventative and as soon as you feel any symptoms coming on, I’d dose 2 grams every hour until bowel tolerance is reached.
Take enough to the point where you have frequent, urgent bowel movements – at which point you know you’ve reached saturation.
DO NOT LET UP, keep hammering the C until your infection is gone and DO NOT be afraid of a very high dose. For example, I have in the past taken up to 100g of Vitamin C/day.
Being water soluble, any excess Vitamin C is simply excreted. Having a powdered Vitamin C on hand is really what you should have, and it makes these mega-doses easy to take
Finally last month in the BP Bulletin I debuted a new, extremely powerful form of Vitamin C you can use for multiple applications. In fact, its been shown to be the only form of C that accumulates in muscle tissue. It’s so good, I’m considering adding it to Synthagen!
