What is Vitamin C?
Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant, helps wounds to heal and helps the immune system to protect the body from disease. Most mammals make vitamin C in the liver by converting glucose into ascorbic acid (including the worlds longest living mammal - the bowhead whale with a life expectancy of 200 years +), but we humans are one of a handful of species that are unable to do this. We’ve had to rely on our diet to provide us with this essential vitamin. It was not until 1934 that we discovered how to synthesise ascorbic acid from glucose. Supplementary Vitamin C comes in various forms, including ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, and calcium ascorbate.Natural vs. synthetic vitamin C
Natural and synthetic L-ascorbic acid are chemically identical and there are no known differences in their biological activities or bioavailabilities.What is Liposomal Vitamin C?
Liposomal vitamin C is Vitamin C stored inside ‘phospholipids’ - microscopically small fat particles which are used in nature to help deliver life sustaining nutrients in breast milk.Phospholipids are easily absorbed by our cells which makes them very helpful in delivering hard to absorb nutrients to the cells.
Ascorbic acid is not easily absorbed by our digestive systems, and when we try to take even relatively small amounts we can encounter bowel intolerance (diarrhea).
Before the advent of Liposomal encapsulation the only way to effectively administer high dose Vitamin C was to inject it straight into the bloodstream, a procedure known as vitamin C Megadosing, or ’Very High dose intravenous Vitamin C’ (VHDIVC).
VHDIVC has been used for many years to safely deliver doses comparable to the amounts produced by the livers of most other mammals - as much as 200,000 milligrams (200 grams) of Vitamin C per day to seriously ill patients.
Vitamin C in animals
200 grams may seem like an incredibly high dose but when we take into account that most mammals produce the equivalent in humans of 2,000 to 13,000 mg (2 to 13 grams) of ascorbic acid per day when they are in good health, and that this can increase up to 100 fold under disease or stress, these amounts are put into perspective.Vitamin C in Medicine
For some unfathomable reason, mainstream medicine has avoided the use of Vitamin C like the plague since its discovery in the 1930’s, so we have to rely on the work of a few independently minded doctors for most of the clinical experience with VHDIVC therapy.Frederick R. Klenner, a general practitioner from Reidsville, North Carolina, was the pioneer. In the 1940s and 1950s, he found that viral diseases, notably pneumonia and polio, could be cured or greatly improved by intravenous sodium ascorbate of up to 200 grams a day. Vitamin C was first isolated in 1932 and first synthesized in 1934, so Klenner was a very early adopter.
In the Polio epidemic of 1948 and 1949 Klenner applied his maxim that the patient should get large doses of vitamin C in all pathological conditions while the physician ponders the diagnosis. The sicker the patient, the higher the dose. Massive Vitamin C doses cured every one of 60 polio cases Klenner saw. He published his report in Southern Medicine and Surgery in July of 1949. All patients were well in three days. None had any paralysis.
He also presented a summarization of his work on polio at the Annual Session of the American Medical Association on June 10, 1949 in Atlantic City, New Jersey to a totally unresponsive audience of doctors.
Klenner soon realised that, “Some physicians would stand by and see their patient die rather than use ascorbic acid because in their finite minds it exists only as a vitamin.”
Two recent 60 minutes documentaries on Vitamin C show that nothing has changed in the ensuing 60 years (Google ‘60 minutes Vitamin C’). They detail the full recovery of ’Terminally ill’ Swine Flu victim Alan Smith. His life support was about to be switched off, but a compassionate Doctor agreed to let the family try VHDIVC as a last resort. Award winning investigative reporter Melanie Reid relates the battle that ensued when his symptoms started to rapidly resolve.
Subsequent independently minded researchers and advocates of Vitamin C include Doctors Irwin Stone, Linus Pauling (winner of 2 Nobel prizes), Robert Cathcart, Mathias Rath and Patrick Holford. Their collective view on Vitamin C is that we are no different from other mammals in that we benefit from increased amounts of Vitamin C when we are exposed to toxins, disease, or trauma, and that Klenner’s maxim, “The sicker the patient, the higher the dose”, holds true.
Vitamin C in our diet
A colourful diet of raw, organic fruits and vegetables can provide you with your day to day Vitamin C needs; the best ones are as follows, in descending order:Vegetables: Sweet peppers, Chilli peppers, Brussels sprouts, Brocolli, Artichoke, Sweet Potato, Tomato, Cauliflower, Kale.
Fruits: Blackcurrants, Pawpaw, Strawberries, Orange, Kiwifruit, Grapefruit.
Where does Liposomal Vitamin C fit into the picture?
There are 4 rungs on the Vitamin C ladder:1: Dietary Vitamin C (typically up to 200 mg/day)
2: Vitamin C tablets and powders. (up to 2000 mg/day. This limit is set by bowel intolerance)
3: Liposomal / Lypospheric Vitamin C. (no bowel intolerance limit)
4: Very High Dose Intravenous Vitamin C. (10 to 200 grams)
Liposomal Vitamin C offers a convenient and effective way to supplement your diet when you are seeking to rapidly and significantly increase your levels of Vitamin C.
Liposomal Vitamin C’s significantly improved bio-availability and bowel intolerance characteristics mean that although it costs a little more to buy, it can be a more responsive and even more cost effective option than normal Vitamin C. This is because your body can absorb significantly more of the Vitamin C in Liposomal form than it can in conventional tablet or powder form.
In addition to using Liposomal Vitamin C for your occasional high dose requirements, you can also use it as a daily supplement (one or two capsules a day).
Livon Laboratories Lypospheric Vitamin C comes in sachets with 1,000 mg of Vitamin C per sachet. It uses Lecithin from Soy, and contains the Sodium Ascorbate form of Vitamin C.
Dr Mercola’s Liposomal Vitamin C comes in capsules with 500 mg of Vitamin C per capsule. It uses Lecithin from Sunflower oil instead of instead of Soy, and contains the Ascorbic acid form of vitamin C instead of Sodium ascorbate.
Sodium ascorbate is Ascorbic acid with added sodium. It offers reduced bowel intolerance in higher doses because it is less acidic, but when Vitamin C is delivered in Liposomal / Lypo-Spheric form bowel intolerance is not an issue.
The cheapest form of Vitamin C is Calcium Ascorbate. It is not recommended by leading Vitamin C advocates due to poor bioavailability of the Calcium in this form, which can be harmful.
What is the difference between Liposomal and Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C?
There is no difference. Both terms refer to the practice of encapsulating a nutrient (in this case Vitamin C) with phospholipids which greatly improves the body’s ability to absorb it.The inspiration for this idea came from nature, which uses phospholipids to deliver nutrients in breast milk.
The information provided in this publication is presented for educational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for the diagnosis, treatment or advice of a qualified, licensed professional. You should not use the information provided to self diagnose a health problem or otherwise delay seeking medical advice.
