Uncovering the magic of Vitamin C

For some reason, the human (along with the guinea pig), has lost the ability to synthesise vitamin C. Many other animals retain this ability.

One could apply a raft of evolutionary pressures and responses to make sense of this, but in the end, we can’t make our own vitamin C; we are missing an enzyme conversion from a precursor. This capacity was lost – best guess is around 100000 years ago. Interestingly vitamin C and glucose have a very similar molecular weight and structure.

Vitamin C was abundant in our environment, especially in the more primitive environment where – as we wandered and gathered – we would eat leaf tips, berries, fruits, and if you were really lucky, the entrails of other small animals. The liver and kidneys and brain store a lot of vitamin C in many animals, and our penchant for sweetbreads may, in fact, be a Pavlov’s dog response.

Regardless of its source, we need vitamin C and, at times, lots of it. Vitamin C is used to detoxify our bodies, and it does this in a variety of ways. You can think of it as a chemical that sticks to other chemicals to neutralise them. Not only is vitamin C important in the clearance of biological wastes, but it is also important in the manufacture of many of our necessary biological chemicals. These include brain hormones; collagen, where it plays a very important part in the healing of wounds; clarity of corneas; strength of bones and skin; and, maintenance of good quality blood.

Most of us have heard of the disease called scurvy, which was cured using lemon juice and beer made from native plants in New Zealand by Captain James Cook.

Scurvy is characterised by bleeding and infection and death. The current levels for vitamin C intake and blood levels are set by our health ministry – for sufficient daily intake of vitamin C to prevent scurvy.

I regard scurvy as an endpoint and not as a specific disease. This is because the road to scurvy is dotted by other illnesses due to the lack of vitamin C being available to fight infection and heal wounds. Older folks have lower levels of the vitamin and express a multitude of health problems that, in part, can be related to low vitamin C intake. Stored gas-ripened fruit is low in vitamin C.

Countries around the world differ in their recommended levels. Levels are set – based on parameters of a normal population. It is challengeable that we do not have a normal population anywhere on this planet. Therefore, settings for vitamins such as vitamin C in any country are based on an abnormal population – populations that endure significant levels of illness.

An area of scientific interest is in the use of intravenous vitamin C, not as a nutritional agent but as a pharmacological agent to dampen down the cytokine (any of a number of substances that are secreted by certain cells of the immune system and have an effect on other cells) storm that occurs in the medical entity of sepsis. Sepsis is characterised by an overwhelming inflammatory response resulting in at least a 50% death rate. The administering of vitamin C intravenously was first reported in a New Zealand Medical Journal when it was used to treat a man in New Zealand who had the swine flu and was in the terminal phase of his sepsis. Fortunately, he was noted as having signs of scurvy. With a nudge from the legal profession, the medical profession responded by giving him intravenous vitamin C. His recovery was remarkable. These anecdotal stories are prevalent.

New Zealand scientists are prepared to add to this knowledge by interventions with intravenous vitamin C for COVID-19 cases. However, the numbers are so low at this stage that anything stemming from this would be in case-study form only.

I have taken a keen interest in intravenous vitamin C and have delivered many hundreds of such treatments. In addition, I have published anecdotal stories in collaboration with Associate Professor Anitra Carr and Professor Margreet Vissers – both from the Otago Medical School Centre for Free Radical Research. The most impressive effect I have noticed is with people who are having chemotherapy; after the administration of intravenous vitamin C, they almost invariably comment within minutes how much better they feel. In my innocence, I thought, ‘let’s study this’. On inquiry, I was informed that to do a study in the form of a blinded, randomised crossover evaluation, it would cost somewhere in the area of a million dollars.

Vitamin C is cheap, but as there is very little value for a pharma company to evaluate its efficacy, there is little chance of a patentable outcome and therefore little interest. So, I guess we will just have to tell stories – much like the shaman of yesteryear – on the value of vitamin C.