Dear Linda and readers, referring to a closed post on ascorbic acid, I cannot speak for Dr. Levy. He did a presentation on ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate at the IOICP meeting in San Diego in April 2017. He repeatedly called it Vitamin C and when I pointed out after the lecture that his information was about ascorbic acid, not vitamin C, he publicly was very rude and inappropriate toward my comments, enough to make everyone in the audience uncomfortable. I told him that this was not the place to have a heated discussion, but he should investigate what I was saying and make his own conclusions. I remain concerned about his response. His book Death by Calcium came out over 5 years after my first publication of the Calcium Lie. I have it and am reviewing it. It is hard to read but reasonably well referenced. Will see if there is meat there and if it is an independent conclusion. Doctors, including Dr. Levy, have so long called "vitamin C" = ascorbic acid they may not be able to grasp what I am saying at first and google does not recognize that it is not C, and almost all research publications regarding C are flawed by this error of conclusion. The C molecule is quite simply needed in the human for copper utilization. Without the C molecule, the free radical, totally toxic ferritin, Fe3, accumulates and causes havoc with cellular physiology. Fe3 also is food for cancer (with cancer having 6-100x the concentration of Fe3 of normal cells, i.e. Fenton chemistry for energy in the cancer cell), and ferritin is highly associated with nearly all neurologic dis-eases. The medical profession is completely ignorant regarding this fact, not belief. Ascorbic acid causes ferritin to go up. This is 100% bad. This is not stored or potentially usable iron. It is free radical toxic iron (rust). It is highly associated with increased cellular amyloid formation in the brain (reference in Morley's #53) and may be a contributing factor in Dementia, ALS, Parkinson's, nearly all atherosclerotic heart disease and all elevated cholesterol, and nearly all mitochondrial issues and diseases related to this leading to profound dis-ease states. There is simply no good level of ferritin, except possibly zero. I strive to get all patients below 30 (normal lab value is considered 30-400, crazy, wrong)!!! Total serum iron seems to be most reliable for assessment of total iron, even HTMA may be misleading. It is important to remember, when taking the C molecule copper will be utilized, the ferritin will decline, the body will heal, cytochrome enzymes will function, hormones can be produced, hemoglobin can be synthesized, mitochondria can reduce iron and function producing energy again, cancer will be starved to some degree, and so much more good will happen. Ascorbic acid/sodium ascorbate work by peroxidation inside the cell and may be useful for treating cancer in high dose. Bastyr published a study of over 7 years showing 9 different stage 4 cancers with over 50% of patients being alive and well with IV ascorbic acid and IV Arimesinin (a malarial supplement from wormwood which can be given IV) with no adverse reactions in over 7 years. They also call ascorbic acid Vitamin C in error. Neither direct IV or PO peroxide, nor Ozone can achieve the intracellular peroxide activity that can be achieved by ascorbic acid. I do use it in cancer patients in high dose, 30 to 100 grams, but I aggressively rescue copper functions afterwards with the real C molecule (I am the first to do this and speak to the importance of doing this) with every glass of water and meal until the next IV ascorbic acid to be sure to restart the copper utilization process. IV ascorbic acid has a short half life of only a few hours, but mg per mg ascorbic acid depletes the C molecule from the body. This is so significant, that it is like washing the chalk board totally clean, i.e. of all extracellular C molecules in the body, total depletion. Ascorbic acid competes for the C receptor on the cell membrane. It is the same receptor that the bigger, heavier C molecule uses, so the C molecule is completely excreted when ascorbic acid is given. This has all been proven, just not recognized or published as such. It will be my next book in much greater detail and with references as needed to make the points above clear. This is the science. There is no room for belief or opinion. I would challenge anyone to prove this is not true. It is both clear and well defined in the literature after one knows what to look for, what to consider relevant, and how to interpret the science correctly. When we begin to look at the level of copper disregulation, the diseases associated with it, and the significance of iron3+ as the bad actor, this becomes clearly evident. We will do this in the book. I currently can find no use for ascorbic acid except with cancer and some viral infections, and then only IV. Oral C molecules have ascorbic acid as the envelope of the molecule and thus will also have some of the ascorbic acid effects, just not the bad ones. Ascorbic acid is basically an antibiotic/anticancer medication. It does not occur naturally, it comes from the C molecule or is synthetic, MW 172 same molecule. It has nearly the same configuration biochemically as sugar, which may be another reason that it is so useful in cancer that typically has 100x the insulin receptors as normal cells for sugar, its fuel. Ascorbic acid has toxicity in G6PD leading to hemolysis, and if given to a person with Scurvy (the hemorrhagic disease) they will die (published). This is another example of "drug vitamins." The C molecule has NO side effects and can be given with G6PD deficiency. Interestingly, scurvy is very common today in the elderly, I estimate that nearly 25% or more have it. When one sees the thin skin, the large echymosis on the forearms and legs, the bleeding gums, elevated cholesterol, heart disease, and teeth falling out, think Scurvy. The clotting problems resolve and healing begins in about 2 weeks when the actual C molecule is given. It is all about copper!!! There are very few people who understand the above discussion, so please be gentle. I was also critical of the person who enlightened me, but I was not rude. I was certainly disbelieving and fairly knowledgeable about ascorbic acid at the time. I too had believed and not questioned that ascorbic acid was the C vitamin. The key is ferritin. I encourage all of you to strive to get your ferritin as low as possible. If it is not going down, you are probably NOT taking the real C molecule, 95% chance. There may be a few that have such severe mitochondrial failure, that additional therapies will be needed to promote autophagy or intracellular remodeling/healing for correction to occur. Hopefully, this will help correct the other 5% that deem not to respond to the C molecule or not right away. I have not determined this answer for sure yet. This information could lead to a huge change in our collective health. Blessings
