FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, November 17, 2021

Twelve intervention trials conclude that vitamin C works for Covid
So why are hospitals being prohibited from using it?

by Patrick Holford

OMNS (Nov. 17, 2021) Everyone knows that vitamin C is important for immunity. Sales of both oranges and vitamin C tablets have risen sharply during the Covid pandemic.

Indeed, a review of twelve studies, including five "gold standard" randomized controlled trials, shows that this simple vitamin saves lives when given in the right dose. Vitamin C can prevent a serious Covid infection.

The scientific evidence is clear: vitamin C taken when infected can reduce Covid symptoms and duration of illness. So why aren't we being told to supplement with vitamin C?

The review of the twelve studies, which includes five randomized controlled trials, is published in the journal Life [ www.vitaminC4covid.com/12trialreview ] The review was carried out and funded by VitaminC4Covid, a consortium of vitamin C experts including Dr Marcela Vizcaychipi from the Faculty of Medicine at London's Imperial College, Associate Professor Anitra Carr who heads the Nutrition in Medicine group at the University of Otago , and Dr Paul Marik, chief of the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School.

The studies show that Covid patients have depleted vitamin C levels, often to the level found in scurvy. In patients with serious pneumonia, a depleted vitamin C level greatly increases the risk of widespread internal organ damage and death. They need substantial doses of vitamin C to recover and survive.

Dr Vizcaychipi, who heads research in intensive care medicine at the UK's Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, has been giving Covid and non-Covid patients in their intensive care Units up to 6 grams (6,000 mg) of vitamin C intravenously. The dosage is dependent on the severity of disease and the amount needed to correct deficiency, as indicated by vitamin C urine test sticks.

"Vitamin C is certainly one of multiple factors that contributes to better outcomes and speed of recovery. It should be standard practice. We have not had any safety issues at all." says Dr Vizcaychipi.

In the US, a group of medical doctors, members of the Frontline Covid Critical Care Alliance (www.flccc.net) have more than halved mortality in their ICUs using a protocol of steroids (methylprednisolone), plus vitamin C (ascorbic acid), plus vitamins B1 (thiamine), D and anticoagulants (heparin) - a strategy known as MATH+. This protocol was pioneered by Drs Paul Marik, Pierre Kory, and Joseph Varon, a critical care expert recognized by the United Nations for his life-saving work.

Currently, Dr Marik, Director of the ICU at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, is being prohibited from using this safe and effective life-saving protocol by Senatra Health on the false grounds of a lack of evidence. He is suing them. "This case is about doctors, having the ability to honor their Hippocratic Oath, to follow evidence-based medicine, and to treat our patients the best we know how. I refuse to watch another patient die from COVID-19 knowing that I was not allowed to give them proven treatments that could have saved their life."

What the review of 12 clinical trials shows is that "intravenous vitamin C may improve oxygenation parameters, reduce inflammatory markers, decrease days in hospital and reduce mortality, particularly in the more severely ill patients."

What is remarkable about vitamin C is that it is an antioxidant, an anti-viral, and also anti-inflammatory. It's an impressive three-in-one defender. Not one adverse event has been reported in any published vitamin C clinical trials in COVID-19 patients.

The review also shows that high doses of oral vitamin C taken upon infection may keep people out of the hospital because it increases their rate of recovery.

According to Carr "Oral doses of 8 grams per day have been shown to increase the rate of recovery from symptomatic infection by 70%. For more critically ill patients, trials using doses of 6-24g a day intravenously have shown positive benefits in terms of increased survival, and reduced hospital stay, improved oxygenation or reduced inflammation."

It takes twenty oranges to provide a total of only one gram of vitamin C, so these doses require supplementation. The review includes several studies showing that "patients with severe respiratory infections have depleted vitamin C status, with the prevalence of deficiency increasing with the severity of the condition."

In one study, vitamin C levels predicted who would or wouldn't survive. Plasma levels of vitamin C were reported to be very low in 70-80% of Covid patients. What is clear is that several grams, not just a glass of orange juice, are needed to correct severe vitamin C deficiency.

For over a year, the VitaminC4covid team has been calling on government advisors to carry out a proper review of the evidence for vitamin C, in order to inform the public and medical profession. But there seems to be a double standard. The promise to those advocating non-drug treatments such as vitamins has effectively been, "Come up with the evidence and we'll treat it like any other medicine." The evidence is now undeniable. One wonders, why aren't people aren't being told to take high dose vitamin C upon infection? And why aren't all hospitals checking vitamin C status with urine sticks as a routine measure and acting accordingly? Vitamin C is safe, inexpensive, available, and now proven to work.

You are invited to refer to www.vitaminC4covid.com/recommendations for detailed guidance on what to take for prevention, for early treatment, if severe and hospitalized, and if in the intensive care unit.

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

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