On July 7, 1497, when Vasco da Gama set sail for India from Portugal on the East African coast to conquer the kingdom, trade, and Christianity, he was accompanied by 170 sailors. Only those foods that lasted for a long time in the dry state were taken during the voyage in the old days. In most cases, there was no place for fruits or vegetables on the sailor’s food list.
After floating at sea for about seven months in a row, when he reached Mozambique on the east coast of Africa, many of his sailors’ hands and feet were swollen and bruised. Their gums were so swollen that they couldn’t chew anything with their teeth.
The people of Mozambique saw the plight of the sailors of Vasco da Gama and gave him advice. They said that more and more orange and lemon juice could cure the disease of sailors.
Vasco da Gama mentions in his diary that his sailors recovered after eating lemon-orange juice for only six days. (1)
On his way back from India, Vasco da Gama’s fortunes were not so good. For whatever reason, they couldn’t be able to buy lemons or oranges.
The army, which had embarked on a historic voyage with 170 sailors, returned with only 70 men. None of these 100 sailors drowned. They lost their lives again due to swollen gums, swollen limbs, and wounds. (2)
Those of us who are accustomed to eating vegetables and fruits every day, today can’t even imagine how the lives at least two million sailors were lost in the Middle Ages by not eating only these little vegetables and fruits. (3)
Swelling of the gums, swelling of the hands and feet, this deadly disease was called ‘plague of the sea,’ its real name is scurvy. And while searching for a cure for this scurvy, a magical molecule, vitamin C, was discovered.
Vitamin C is a carbon cycle based compound, and its cycle is called the furan cycle. The chemical name for vitamin C is ascorbic acid.
Vitamin C is an essential element of the human body’s immune system. Although its primary function is to control the bonding, transport, and coordination between the connective tissues of the organism. Apart from this, it also acts as stress management, free radical elimination, anti-viral-anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory compound in our body.
Today, we are struggling to cope with the global epidemic of Covid-19 caused by the coronavirus. Vitamin C has emerged as a magic molecule due to its innate qualities.
Why is Vitamin C the best weapon against Covid-19?
Table of Contents
To know the answer to this question, we must first understand what actually happens to us after being infected with the coronavirus in the body.
The real name of the coronavirus is ‘SARS COV-2’. Yes, that’s right; you can now become known as a SARS Virus. The problem is, it has spike proteins outside the prion shell. In any picture of coronavirus, you will see many thorny grains on the skin. These granules are the spike proteins that make the virus more than a thousand times more contagious than its twin brother, the SARS virus. That’s why while SARS infected only 40,000 people worldwide in eight months, the coronavirus affected more than Nine million people in just six months, of whom more than 4.5 Lakhs have already died. (4)
The health systems of the most developed countries in the world are collapsing one after another.
After the coronavirus enters our body, we are infected and do not get hospitalized or die. We die as a result of the response of our body’s immune system to the coronavirus.
Once the coronavirus enters the body, it attacks the alveolar cells in our lungs. The function of alveolar cells is to maintain oxygen supply to the blood. After the alveoli attack, the virus oxidizes the ferrous iron in our blood to hemoglobin and turns it into ferric iron. As ferrous iron is converted into ferries, it can no longer absorb oxygen, resulting in the loss of our blood cells’ ability to carry oxygen. This leads to ARDS or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. As a result of ARDS, patients with Covid-19 suffer from severe shortness of breath/pneumonia. (5)
Meanwhile, the biological alarms in our body become very active and start giving alarm signals to prevent this viral infection. As a result, the body begins a massive surge, in which the inflammatory cells of the body’s immune system are activated, and cytokine storms start. Among the cytokines, especially interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-18, became more active. In particular, two proteins, NLRP3 and OFR3a, are activated by coronavirus ion transport channels and lipid-protein transport channels to stimulate the body to produce abnormally fast cytokines. This results in the accumulation of water in the alveolar cells of our lungs, i.e., edema. In this situation, our lungs become immobile. We continue to lose the ability to breathe. (6)
How vitamin C became a magic molecule?
In this case, the three aspects of the numerous vitamin C properties are especially beneficial for our body.
1
Vitamin C is a potent antiviral agent. Macrophage cells, T-lymphocyte cells, and neutrophil cells (these are different types of white blood cells), which are part of the body’s immune system, absorb large amounts of vitamin C and move in groups toward the coronavirus-infected part of the body. Soon after, they jump on the infected cells. Vitamin C, as an antiviral ingredient, then begins to destroy the coronavirus. Vitamin C also plays a dominant role in inhibiting the RNA replication of the virus, thereby inhibiting the reproduction of the virus in the body. (7)
2
Vitamin C is a powerful anti-oxidant biomolecule. It is the ferrous iron of the hemoglobin group of hemoglobin that is oxidized to ferric iron in the attack of coronavirus, which is converted back to ferrous iron. As a result, alveoli can resume oxygen transport in the blood.
3
Vitamin C is a potent anti-inflammatory compound because it inhibits the cytokine storm initiated by inflammatory cells. (8)
By playing these three roles, Vitamin C can reverse the treatment of Covid-19, a disease caused by a coronavirus.
By the way, we all take more or less vitamin C. An adult needs 90-100 mg of vitamin C a day, which is supposed to be found in a Civit or a liter of lemon juice. So why are so many people being infected and dying from coronavirus?
The body’s need for vitamin C skyrockets during a viral infection or a strong inflammatory response. In this situation, a regular dose of 90-100 mg of vitamin C cannot stop the storm of huge cytokines. Vitamin C megadoses are needed to prevent this situation.
It is called megadoses in the language of nutrition if you take 1,000 mg or more of vitamin C a day. According to the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine recommendations, it is essential to take at least 3,000 mg or 3 grams of vitamin C a day to prevent coronavirus.
When someone is infected with coronavirus, they may need to take 200 mg per kg body weight or 12 g per day. For a person weighing 60 kg, vitamin C intake may be required from 12 gm per day to 24 gm and in case of severe symptoms up to a maximum of 100 gm. (9)
Many countries, including China, South Korea, the United States, and Turkey, have been successful in administering vitamin C orally and intravenously to coronavirus patients. (10)
How do we take vitamin C megadoses?
Anyone can take up to 1 gram of vitamin C megadose a day. To get one gram of vitamin C, take four Ceevit tablets or two Ceevit DS tablets or one Ceevit forte tablet daily (Ceevit forte for diabetes patients). However, if you want to take Megados, the best source of vitamin C may be ascorbic acid powder.
However, if you want to take more than 1 gram of vitamin C megadose, you must follow the advice of a nutritionist or doctor who has an academic study of clinical nutrition.
Vitamin C can be taken daily according to the following recommendations to prevent coronavirus:
For adults, healthy, normal women and men:
Mix one gram of vitamin C powder in half a cup of normal water temperature and take three grams of vitamin C three times a day after one hour. Instead of one gram of vitamin C powder, four ceevit or two ceevit DS or one ceevit forte should be taken.
For pregnant women:
It can be eaten as per the instructions No. 1 above, add 400 IU Vitamin E tablets with it.
For children:
A child under two years of age does not need extra vitamin C if he is breastfeeding properly, and the mother continues to take vitamin C megadoses. Vitamin C should be taken 500 mg daily for children aged 2 to 5 years, 1000 mg daily for children aged 5 to 10 years, and 1500-2000 mg daily for children aged ten years as per instructions.
Caution
1) Diabetic patients should take sugar-free vitamin C powder than civet. Otherwise, glucose control can become difficult.
2) Those who have gastric problems need to mix a pinch of salt with water while taking vitamin C powder.
Vitamin C Megadose is bringing many more exciting changes to the global medical system in the days ahead. Experts believe that this magic molecule, which has been neglected for so many reasons, will bring about the next revolution in medicine.
Reference:
1,2,3. A brief history of vitamin C and its deficiency, scurvy
4. COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
6. COVID-19, PNEUMONIA & INFLAMMASOMES – THE MELATONIN CONNECTION
7. Vitamin C As An Antiviral: It’s All About Dose
8. Vitamin C inhibits the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by scavenging mitochondrial ROS
9. International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine
10. Hospital turns to high-dose vitamin C to fight coronavirus
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