(NaturalHealth365) In an effort to set the record straight – vitamin C is ascorbate only. Most commonly, vitamin C is ingested as ascorbic acid (hydrogen ascorbate) or sodium ascorbate. Vitamin C also occurs in different mineral forms, including calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate, and others.
However, it needs to be understood that the active agent in all forms of vitamin C is the ascorbate anion and nothing else.
Virtually all of the phenomenal clinical and laboratory outcomes of vitamin C against pathogens and toxins reported over the last 75 years has come from only ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate, administered or applied in appropriate amounts.
Why all the fuss about vitamin C – especially when it works?
As the awareness of the enormous utility of vitamin C continues to grow and more people supplement it on a regular basis, more supplement makers want to jump on the “vitamin C bandwagon.” Leading this new surge of vitamin C companies are those who want to “inform” the public that what it always thought was vitamin C really isn’t vitamin C.
Probably the two most common deceitful vitamin C-related labels are “natural vitamin C” and “vitamin C complex.” To add to this deliberate desire to dupe the public, the companies that produce these products even assert that ascorbic acid is not really vitamin C!
Nothing could be more outlandish, but it is actually so outlandish that many people end up believing it must be true, since it would be such an exceptionally ridiculous lie otherwise. The Nobel laureate who discovered vitamin C, Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, asserted that what he discovered was ascorbic acid and nothing more.
He certainly did not discover “natural vitamin C” or “vitamin C complex.” Furthermore, the pioneer of the clinical use of vitamin C, Dr. Frederick Klenner, cured his many infections and neutralized his many toxins solely with pure ascorbic acid (or sodium ascorbate).
Don’t be fooled by vitamin C companies
Many new supplement makers want you to think that vitamin C is of relatively little use to the body if it is not ingested in a “natural” form. Additionally, they try to disparage many pure vitamin C supplements as being “synthetic vitamin C.” Vitamin C, or ascorbate, can be synthesized or it can be isolated from natural sources.
As long as the purification processes are not flawed, the final products are absolutely identical. However, the fears that many people have today (often justifiably) about impure products of all varieties are played upon by these companies in their attempt to sell their “natural, vitamin C complex” product in the place of pure vitamin C supplements.
Are “vitamin C complex” and “natural vitamin C” useful products?
To be balanced, it is important to note that these “vitamin C complex” supplements are absolutely fine products. They often contain a number of other antioxidants, such as bioflavonoids, and it is always desirable to consume as many other antioxidants on a daily basis with the vitamin C as possible.
In truth, the more antioxidants, the merrier.
But, ‘complex’ brands are just needlessly expensive when marketed in the “vitamin C complex” form, which is the real reason they are promoted in this fashion in the first place. Vitamin C by itself is still a fairly cheap product. “Vitamin C complex” is not.
And, when funds are limited, you want to make sure that as much vitamin C is getting into your body on a regular basis as possible, not more expensive antioxidants of substantially less positive health consequences.
A word about medical information and the internet
The internet is a profoundly effective tool for disseminating information. Countless people with great ideas and little money 20 years or more ago simply died with their ideas. This is no longer the case with the reach of the internet.
However, the internet has given many charlatans the same platform, and the discerning healthcare consumer ultimately only has himself or herself to rely upon to make the final decision as to what is beneficial, what is harmful, and what is of no consequence. The consumer alone must decide whether a company wants to support his good health at least as much as it wants to take his money.
All supplement companies are in the biz to make money, but that cannot be their sole motivation.
On today’s internet, there are now many different ways in which to check on the veracity of information being offered. But it is up to the consumer to visit other sites, ask questions on blogs, and double, triple, and quadruple-check important information before it is effectively applied to his body.
Become a passive consumer of medical advertising without any intelligent questioning, and your health, along with your bank account, will needlessly suffer in the process.
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About the author: Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD is a board-certified internist and cardiologist. He is also bar-certified for the practice of law. He has written extensively on the importance of eliminating toxins while bolstering antioxidant defenses in the body, with particular focus on vitamin C. His upcoming new book will be released in a few months, entitled, Death by Calcium: The Toxic Supplement.
For more information about Dr. Levy – visit: PeakEnergy.com
