Buffering
(San Fernando, San Fernando, Philippines)
04/26/2011
Hi Francisca... It's fairly easy to understand buffering which is simply the addition of an alkali or base(like sodium bicarbonate, baking soda) to orange juice -- which consists mainly citric acid and ascorbic acid and which tastes sour.
The rudimentary rule and equation for buffering is here:
Acid plus Base = Salt plus Water
Thus the citric and ascorbic acids are converted to their alkaline salts -- citrates and ascorbates -- which do not taste sour. Because these acids are converted to salts this does not erode your teeth and it tastes less sour when you drink it.
Just add baking soda to the fresh orange juice until the fizzing stops and then drink it -- very similar to the process of adding baking soda to ascorbic acid to just create ascorbates. You will be drinking the citrates and ascorbates in solution and not their acid forms which is far kinder on your digestive system. This method also causes less stomach upset and less diarrhia because its not so acid. It's also been my experience that your intestines can absorb far more ascorbates than ascorbic acid in your intestines for this reason.
This buffering process is exactly the same when you add sufficient sodium bicarbonate to lemon or lime juice(Ted's Alkalizing Remedy). Same result -- alkaline salts which are more easily absorbed in the intestines.
You should also be able to add extra ascorbic acid to the orange juice then just buffer it all as normal with the sodium bicarbonate. Quite safe.
Chronic Allergies
★★★★★
(Crescent City, CA)
05/11/2022
I've just started hitting the Vitamin C after reading all Bill from California has written on it, including Ted's posts. I'm doing the powder form, one from Now brand, and I have some Raw whole food C that I need to use up as well, from Acerola Cherries. It's not the ascorbic, or ascorbate but it can't hurt to use it up as well. I'm starting with 1000 mg a day for my unending Post Nasal Drip, itchy hives, watery eyes. The last 2 issues are only part of the time, the PND is 24/7. I'll be back to tell how it's going for me, nothing else including Flonase, or guaifenesin worked At ALL!! The info on allergies and C is not included with the articles I've found so far on EC, so I am hoping I really do well with this and can share it with other suffering with allergies and PND, possibly LPR as well.
(Crescent City, CA)
05/20/2022
★★★★★
I think my allergies are much better using Vitamin C, as Calcium Ascorbate I was recommended. I have had a bit of issues adapting to 1/2 tsp of the powder (with a bit of stomach discomfort, cramping) so I cut back to just the 1/4 tsp. Doing ok so far, haven't noticed a big difference in the occasional heart palpitation. Just when I feel sort of anxious it happens. Vit C has helped others with A-fib so thought I'd try it. Plus other ways of relaxing, healthy ways :) I got the 500mg Now brand and I just do it 2 times a day, morning and night.
Citric Acid
(Seattle, Wa)
01/11/2012
Colds
★★★★★
Colds
★★★★★
I had a friend of mine who got a full body flu...he said he ached from head to toe...he was shivering and sweating a lot and looked very pale. I suggested that Vitamin C might help...to take 500mg every hour (if wake up a night = take another 500mg). He took the C with a little snack, like a cracker or small slice of bread...something to buffer his stomach from the acid. Within 24 hours all his symptoms were gone and didn't come back.
When I first notice symptoms of a cold coming on (slightly swollen throat or my nose starting to drip or pressure in head or just a feeling some kind of bacteria has gotten into the body), I immediately start the following:
If the symptoms are mild, I will take 500 to 1000mg Vitamin C powder (can also use capsules or tabs) every 2 hours. I sometimes add it to my Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey tea, or just with water or just before a meal...but I never take the C on an empty stomach.
If the symptoms are bad, I will take 500 to 1000mg C every hour.
What happens in the body is that when a person has a cold or flu, they tend to have to urinate more. When sick the body uses up Vitamin C very fast. Even if you take 5000mg or more in one shot, within 2 hours all of it will be gone through the urine. That's why it is so important to take it in smaller doses every hour or two.
I discovered this approach from Adelle Davis in her book Let's Get Well...it was published in the 1960s. I have been able to kill all cold and flu symptoms within about 24 hours for over the last 20 years...I have not had a full blown cold or flu since. The Keys are (1) start early when first get symptoms and (2) take the Vitamin C every hour or two until better.
Colds
★★★★★
My children usually get sick at the beginning of the spring and the beginning of fall... most likely allergies. They also usually get whatever sickness is going around school. For the last year, I've been successfully giving my 6 and 8 year olds 500 mgs of vitamin c under the recommendation from the Linus Pauling Foundation. They love the chewables (ascorbic acid). They havent gotten sick AT ALL in that time. Meanwhile, my 13 year old has gotten broncitis and pneumonia who refuses to take the vitamin c. I've been trying to get her to take the vitamin c but she is not big into the taste of the chewables and doesn't like taking pills. Everytime she gets sick, I try to reason with her that the other two are not getting sick anymore, and in fact, NONE of us are, so why is she the only one in our house getting sick?? It used to go from one of us to the next and the next like a domino effect. Now, it's just her.( My husband and I take 2000 mg of Vitamin C per day, also recommeded by the Linus Pauling Institute)
Dream Inducer
★★★★★
Excitotoxins in Vitamin C
 (2) |
100% |
WARNING!
I was only able to obtain Effervescent vit C, and my palette told me that it contained saccharin. Eventually, I got around to reading - with the aid of a magnifying glass - the ingrediants list, and was horrified to find that under the subheading of 'Sweetener' was listed, Saccharin, Sorbitol, and ASPARTAME - an acknowleged nuro-toxine, and dangerous to PD sufferes, among others.
The supplier, I trusted, and was Holland & Barett. However, they are not alone in selling this product - several other outlets also sell the 'contaminated' effervescent Vit C - listing the same 3 sweeteners, but in different orders (highest content is first, etc.)
Now starts the epic search of the net for another product - I have already been offered "Sugar Free" (Aspartame loaded) products from reputable suppliers.
Wish me luck, and Thanks, Ted
Alan.
(Sao Paulo, Brazil)
04/23/2012
Hi Alan, I buy my vitamin C in bulk in the form of ascorbic acid powder. There are no fillers whatsoever and it's certified so. In fact I get 1.5 kilo at once and it lasts me a LONG time (more than a year).
Not sure if EC will allow to post this portion but I get mine from purebulk.com and it is delivered to my house in Brazil. They ship right away and do an excellent job shipping it quickly. Good luck.
(Glastonbury, Uk)
05/03/2012
Hi Fabricio, Sorry for not replying earlier. I have located pure Ascorbic Acid - from Holland & Barrett, would you believe!!! a 170g bottle for 6. Needs only 1/4 teaspoonful to give a tad over 1000mg. I disolve the crystals in tepid water to ensure complete disolution, adding cold water, then the Methylene Blue.
Thanks for your interest.
Regards, Alan
Excitotoxins in Vitamin C
WARNING!
-----------------------------------
by Daniel P. Kray, Senior Editor
Published June 22, 2011
We like Vitamin C for a lot of things, from prevention to post-infection treatment. That's why we're concerned about the popularity of certain hyped Vitamin C products. A natural cold and flu remedy would be great, but what sort of extra baggage is hitching a ride on these packs of Vitamin C supplements? Turns out, a pair of unnecessary ingredients, aspartic acid (or asparagine) and sucralose, are often tagging along. You may have to look into the fine print of the ingredients list, but you'll be surprised at how often they show up.
L-aspartic acid is one of our non-essential amino acids. The body makes it, so we don't need to get it from our diets. We definitely need it for energy creation, nerve function, and a host of other bodily activities. But like most good things, too much can be bad. In excess, aspartic acid becomes an excitotoxin, revving the neurons and nervous system up so high that nerve damage can be a result. In effect, excitotoxins cause our neurons to die from excitement!
In fact, if the facts behind Aspartame make you uncomfortable, aspartic acid is a large part (40%) of the reason. In our bodies, this artificial sweetener breaks down into phenylalanine, methanol, and aspartic acid. Methanol is just plain toxic, but the overdose of amino acids can likewise do great harm. Sucralose (Splenda) is of course much the same thing as Aspartame-an artificial sweetener. This one mostly passes out of the body without being metabolized, but some 15-20% does not pass out of the body immediately. Since sucralose is an organochloride (an organic chlorine compound), many of us are justifiably concerned about the possibility of introducing free chlorine molecules into our bloodstream and tissues. Makes you nostalgic for good old belly-expanding glucose!
Since the liver can produce aspartic acid whenever bodily levels are low, we never experience true aspartic acid deficiencies, so there is no need to get it through supplements. Easy then, we won't take aspartic acid supplements. That is, unless we don't know it's there in our other supplements! Now, weight lifting supplements often contain aspartic acid along with a medley of the other amino acids, so there is an issue there. However, for the Earth Clinic community we're more concerned about products like Ester-C (the brand) and Emergen-C, both of which add aspartic acid to their Vitamin C supplements. Just check out the Other Ingredients on the fine print on this ingredients list to see for yourself.
Products advertised as energy boosters frequently contain aspartic acid, as do whey powder products. Airborne and Super C Vitamin C products do not seem to use aspartic acid (please do not read that as a general endorsement); however, Airborne and Super C do contain sucralose as a sweetener, as do FRS Healthy Energy products.
Additionally, you're likely to find aspartic acid in these products:
- Various collagen formulas
- _____ Liquid Aminos
- Many potassium-magnesium supplements
- Many folic acid tablets
- Many lipoic acid supplements
- Many Nature's Plus products
- Some Solgar vitamin supplements
- Some Nutritech supplements
Now, plenty of foods naturally contain aspartic acid as well, and the body is happy to find it there. It is nature-made, not man-made (unlike sucralose). We don't want to alarm anyone, just let you know what you're potentially putting in your body. Toxic levels of this amino acid are definitely possible, so take a look at your supplement labels and make the best choice for your own health.
The following Earth Clinic reader contributions (and a note from Ted) should help you make the decision that is right for you.
Vitamin C and Excitotoxins
Catherine from Seattle, WA writes: "I was fighting a sinus infection last week after landing in California and went to a Whole Foods to get some Vitamin C. I decided to get Emergen-C to add to water because it had a really tempting fruity flavor. Immediately after taking my first packet (which was delicious), I felt a weird sensation in my head and then I got really edgy (as in bad mood edgy). I read the ingredients on the box and sure enough, the vitamin C used in this brand is Aspartic acid, an excitotoxin. The Emergen-C also contained "natural flavors", aka MSG. I waited 24 hours and tried again to see if I would have the same side effects. Again, within a minute of drinking the packet, I got the same sensation in my head. My question is, are you doing more good or harm to the body when you take this form of vitamin c?!!"
Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "Aspartic acid is a well known excitotoxin and so is monosodium glutamate or MSG. In the long run it's going to destroy the immune system through a neurodegenerative disorder. Once the excitotoxin is destroyed the immune system is down. Now in a pharmaceutical formulation adding this results in the need to take that since you get sicker and so you might feel some relief, the long term is it's going to make a person sicker, which result in greater sales for product with excitotoxins added. Now imagine a child who is a borderline autism, ADHD, these can result in many other neurodegenerative disorders and metabolic acidosis. As for me decades ago I took accidentally soft drinks with aspartame resulting in deafness, but also a permanent partial macular degeneration of the eyes. So the systematic destruction is almost wholesale if given long term use. Luckily Emergen C is not sold in Thailand, although some friends of mine have given me this, I don't take it. I prefer to buy bulk vitamin C and mix them myself. There are other excitotoxins, but aspartic acid, aspartame, monosodium glutamate, and glutamic acid are the most well known...
Therefore most effervescent products sometimes they are not labeled so I ended up calling the factory sometimes. One easy way to measure excitotoxin poisoning is that the urinary pH suddenly become very acid, such as pH 5.5 or lower and even taking more baking soda barely raise the pH long enough to be satisfactory. Such as it can't raise the pH for the entire day. It also takes weeks for the pH to be near normal after taking b complex and baking soda for a week or two. A long term taking of this can also resulted in higher urinary sugar and damaged pancreas, besides damaging the brain. One of the worse advertisement I have seen is Michael J. Fox supporting Diet Pepsi, which contains aspartame, and he himself has Parkinson's disease, which will make such conditions much worse. The remedy is not to take aspartame for Parkinson's disease or to undergo stem cells, since it's not yet legal at the moment and stem cell research has been blocked for at least 8 years. Methylene blue taken at 2 drops at 0.1% concentration might reverse some of the effects of excitotoxins as it is one of my remedies for Parkinson's disease also.
Taking excitotoxins is a long term damage that may lead to degenerative disorders, metabolic acidosis, and lowered immune system. Therefore I would avoid them as best as I can.
Ted"
Supplements Brought on Rage
Wes from Webster, TX writes: "I'm 220 and work out almost everyday. I started taking 2000mg of vitamin C. Ester C tablets. A few days later I noticed I was very easily enraged. I did this for about 4 weeks and decided it wasn't worth it. I recently started taking and animal pack vitamin package. After taking for several days I noticed the same effect. Read the ingredient 2000 mg Vitamin C. So I stopped taking it. Is there anyway to counteract the aggressiveness. IE some other vitamin."
Christine replies: "This afternoon, I visited your site and noted a comment by a reader who said that Ester C made him enraged. It's not the Vitamin C, it's the aspartic acid in the Ester C product. I verified this with an aspartame activist. Aspartic acid is an excitotoxin, a poison that kills brain cells. Yep, it's the same stuff as in aspartame. All of the studies done on Vitamin C were done with sodium ascorbate, which is a type of chemically buffered Vitamin C. It's best to take it as a powder in water, because you can get gastritis if you take too many pills."
© 2011 Earth Clinic. All Rights Reserved.
(Troutdale, Or, Usa)
05/10/2012
Hey, I don't usually post on things like this, however, I just looked at the ester-c bottle (again, because of the article), there is no aspartic acid in it. In fact, there is nothing harmful in it, which is why we purchased it. I do agree with not taking the emergen-c though. It is also beneficial to note that they don't use the healthiest form of B-12 either. It should be Methelcobalamin and not cyanocobalamin. I have researched my like crazy to figure out the B-12 deficiency cure. It's B-12 paste in the nose a couple times a week. Back to vitamin C, it is EXTREMELY beneficial to take at least 10,000mg a day if you have allergies. They will be gone in weeks. My wife's allergy doctor said she was allergic to herself. Ha ha. She became allergic to probably every fruit or vegetable that had any birch pollen on it.
We found a site called doctoryourself. Com, and followed his advice about taking vitamin C, and she is cured after only about 3 weeks. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Be blessed in your efforts to aid in healthy remedies.
(Portland, Or)
05/16/2012
Hi, I looked at the AlacerCorp website FAQ about Emergen-C, and it claims this:
Is aspartic acid the same as aspartame?
- No, aspartame is a chemically formed sugar substitute that bonds L-phenylalanine to aspartic acid. On the other hand, the aspartic acid which we use in Emergen-C, is an amino acid readily found in foods such as fish, legumes, dairy, whole grains, eggs, meats, nuts, and seeds. We use this pure L-Aspartic Acid which has the same structure as that found in foods.
I just wanted to throw this out for discussion. The claim above makes it sound like there is nothing to fear from the form of L-Aspartic acid they use, but I'd be interested in hearing more perspectives on this, as I do take Emergen-C. Thanks!
(Kenya)
08/25/2018
Thank you for the advise....
Food Poisoning
★★★★★
Fountain of Youth
★★★★★
Gene-Altered Vitamin C
★☆☆☆☆
WARNING!
(Tennessee)
05/16/2014
Hi Jay,
Thanks for the link!
I have ascorbic acid powder made by Nutribiotic. My bottle says it is non-gmo. I checked the article you sent and it didn't mention Nutribiotic one way or the other.
I don't know if this means that the article isn't completely accurate or if it means that manufacturers are not completely honest. I don't know if anyone has researched this further and has any more thoughts on it? Chemistry is not my strength, though I have often wished I had paid better attention now that it would be useful at times!
~Mama to Many~
(Uniontown, Oh)
05/16/2014
Hi Mama, I have Nutrigold Vitamin C that says it is food based certified organic, Non-GMO and non-synthetic, 240 mg per capsule. It shows the plant ingredients and the only other ingredient is a Non-GMO plant cellulose capsule. Unless this isn't true, it seems to be free of the things discussed in the referenced article. Best wishes.
Genital Herpes
★★★★★
In 2001, I started to take a daily dose of 500mg of Vit C, and after 9 years my genital herpes never returned. I continue taking Vit C without any side effects.
Heavy Menstrual Flow
★★★★★
I was recommended to use vitamin C 1 to 2 1000mg pills a day. I was on my 3rd day of heavy torment and I took 2 1000mg vitamin c this made my heavy flow to ease up and I continued my regular menstrual period the next two days. I was recommended to use vitamin c 1000mg one week before my period one to two pills a day and take it all thru the last day of the menstrual period.
This really works I am back to normal and happy to share this with other women who are suffering what I did.
High Cholesterol
★★★★★
(Clarkston, Michigan)
01/07/2009
★★★★★
Lipitor Muscle pain: I notice one person commented about taking Vit C in large doses to help controlling cholesterol. I have read a lot of similar articles as I have the same muscle pain that all the articles talk about in taking Statin drugs. My question is: If I stop taking statin drugs and use Vit C do the muscles rebuild - less the pain and how long does it take. I have been taking Lipitor and swithched to Sinvastain a year ago and have now developed severe muscle pain in legs. Will my blood test indicate a real cholesterol number or will the Vit C distort the cholesterol reading. I get my blood tested every 6 months.
Thanks
Ed
(Portland, OR)
01/08/2009
If you drink milk, you might benefit from researching milk, and especially the homogenization process. This process creates fragmented jagged molecules which then pierce arteries causing cholesterol to patch up the wound, thus clogging arteries. Please remember that milk is a big business. I discovered this by reading a book called Radiant Health (author: Peskin) which exposes the food and health industry. I believe homogenized milk causes high cholesterol, heart disease and stroke. I believe that after age 2, we do much better getting our calcium from non-milk sources like vegetables.
We are not defenseless against the food and health industries, but we have to be advocate of our own health by educating ourselves. Blessings.
(Moscow, Russia)
01/22/2009
I was involved in the building of the Lipitor factory for the then Warner Lambert in Ringaskiddy, Cork Ireland. The Irish have never been good at keeping secrets. Lipitor comes from garlic.
Eat garlic, it doesn't have the side effects of Lipitor.
When you think about it, your body is the result of a million years of development. It has been 'built' to run on natural products not the chemicals that pharmacuticals have designed in the last 20 years.
EC: Cross-posted to the garlic page as well, thank you!
Hi Chuck, I didn't see anything mentioned about the cause of your pain, but if it started after the fall 2 years ago, at this stage it will probably be called traumatic arthritis.
I would suggest two things for that pain if it started shortly after the fall. The first one is MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), Now you know why it is known as MSM. The second one is old Edgar Cayce's castor oil packs. When you research on MSM you will find that it is most frequently used by holisitic practitioners to keep down inflammation and promote cellular regrowth. It is also a first cousin to sulphur (a natural mineral in our bodies) and what our bodies metabolize DMSO to. I think between the two, you will find the pain, much less, if not totally gone within 2 weeks after starting them.
Don't worry about MSM causing a reaction if you are allergic to sulfa drugs. I cannot take sulfa drugs without feeling worse after 3 days of it than I was before starting it for an infection. However I can take the MSM without problems, and I have plenty of allergic problems.
(Emporia, Kansas)
01/01/2010
Hi Chuck,
You can type in "Lipitor co-enzyme Q10" in Google and will get several articles related to muscle pain and the Statins (Lipitor, Sinvastain, Mevacore [lovastatin], etc.).
A brief summary: Lovastatin (and other statins) do lower cholesterol, BUT they also lower Co-enzyme Q10. Without enough Co-enzyme Q10 the muscles in the body weaken (the heart is a muscle).
Merck, the drug company that makes Lovastatin (similar to Lipitor) has had a patent on a combination of Lovastatin and Co-enzyme Q10 since 1989 . K. Folkers is the doctor who has done the most research on Co-enzyme Q10. He was an employee of Merck, working out of the University of Texas. Since Merck has the patent on the Lovastatin/C0-enzyme Q10 drug combo, no one else can market it and for money reasons Merck won't market it, nor have they alerted the public to the benefits of Co-enzyme Q10.
A local friend of mine had been taking Lipitor for a few years and developed severe muscle pain in her legs. She simply stopped taking it and the pain went away. She hasn't taken it since.
If you are worried about your cholesterol, you might look at the Cholesterol section on this web site. At the top of the page, click on Ailments, then C, then Cholesterol. Some good remedies, especially Apple Cider Vinegar.
