High-dose Vitamin C–It’s Finally Here!

I think everybody here remembers Caralyn, right?  She has been the subject of many of my quizzes and articles (see “Give My Regards To Arsenicum”), plus she’s a student at the British Institute of Homeopathy; and now she has actually done something great, namely, she has created her own brand of high-dose Vitamin C, so I asked her to come here today and tell us all about it!

I talk a lot about vitamin C in my articles and the need for high doses, especially in cancer patients; but, finding high-dose vitamin C is not easy!  Incredibly, Caralyn has taken it upon herself to address this problem on her own!  She has created a powdered vitamin C drink that tastes like lemonade, and provides 4,000 mg. of vitamin C per glass!  Caralyn, 4,000 mg. is a real break-through for the consumer market!  Would you care to give us the background?

 

Hi Elaine, Thank you for asking!

 

Don’t mention it!

It may come as a shock to you…

Aaaaaah!!!!!!!!!

Elaine, I haven’t even said anything yet!

Oh; well that’s different.  Never mind….

So as I was saying, about 25 million years ago….

Aaaaaah!!!!!!!!

What is it now?????

Such a large number!

Yes it is.  I’ll tell you what, Elaine, you might want to listen to one of your doo-wop records while I’m talking.

Hey, hey, dum doo be doo wop…

 

That’s it.  Now, as I was saying… a looooong time ago, humans as well as all species on our planet, produced their own vitamin C!  Estimates range from 4,000 – 10,000 mg. a day!!!

I did not know that….and I’m surprised you remember back that far, Caralyn!

Grr…..!!!  Unfortunately, a gene mutation prevented us from ever being able to synthesize vitamin C on our own again.

I hate gene mutations!

As I am sure your educated readers must know, if the diet is deficient in vitamin C, we succumb to a slow death known as scurvy.

I never liked scurvy either.

In fact, given that the RDA of Vitamin C is a mere 70 mg. a day, we are suffering with sickness.  Before we can start to get better, basic deficiencies need to be addressed.  Doesn’t this make perfect sense?  You might be wondering, why would Mother Nature deprive us of this ability, given the necessity of Vitamin C?

She probably knew you were going to invent this drink, Caralyn.

I don’t think so, Elaine!  It was more likely that at the time we lost this ability, our environment was overgrown with an abundance of raw, uncooked vegetation naturally high in vitamin C!

Ohhhhhhh.  That does make sense….

The human body is efficient.  It would never waste survival energy manufacturing something that was so abundantly available from the environment.

Caralyn, you are so right!  Brilliant!  That makes so much sense!  Nature always does the least, that’s what I’ve always been taught.

Today unfortunately, the majority of us are no longer living off the land as our ancestors did.  Nor do many of us realize the amount of vitamin C necessary to maintain a healthy immune system.  Many modern day maladies are actually believed to be sub-clinical scurvy.

Egads!

It is actually shocking that the RDA for vitamin C is only 70 mg a day.

Caralyn, shocking yes!  But not as surprising as you might think!  I will tell you why they set the RDA’s for all vitamins so low.  Are you ready?  It’s so that commercial cereals, etc. can look more nutritious than they actually are, can legally appear to be in compliance with 100% of the nutritional standards set forth by the FDA, when, in fact, they are actually little more than just sugar!

Good point, Elaine.  Did you know that an orange, the fruit misleadingly associated with high amounts of vitamin C, only provides 51 mg?

Yikes!  So you’re saying, there’s not as much vitamin C in oranges as we thought; so, very hard for us to eat our way to the amount of vitamin C we need.

The perception is that oranges are very high in vitamin C but just to give your readers a “hot” tip, a green chili pepper offers 109.13 mg. ( 182% RDA)

I did not know that!

Our ancestors have been estimated to have been able to synthesize approximately 4,000 mg. of Vitamin C a day and more when stressed.

OMG!  That’s a lot more than 70 mg.!

Can you see where I am going with this? 

No.

Animals make a load of vitamin C daily and more when their immune systems are stressed, 10,000 mg. is not uncommon given the size of the animal.  Where does that leave us?  This is why we don’t see lions and tigers sneezing and coughing!

We don’t see them eating at McDonald’s either.  Or getting vaccinated or eating pet food or wearing flea collars.

You do have a point there… 🙂  Elaine, did you know that vitamin C is an anti-histamine given in the correct dosage?

No, but I’m glad you told me that because half my clients are allergic to just about everything!  It’s good to know that Vitamin C could be the answer!

There is a theory out there that colds and allergies are a sign of a huge deficiency in ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and even believed to be reversible by taking enough of it.  It is very important for your readers to know that our ascorbic acid needs are on a spectrum.  This is where the individual has to use trial and error with vitamin C to determine his or her correct dosage.  One thing we know for sure, too little vitamin C does far too little (and that is what most people are getting of this vitamin–far too little!)

What is the best way to determine the best dose?

Slowly increase ascorbic acid levels until bowel tolerance is reached.  Now I know this is where you are going to use that highly advanced sense of humor of yours!

Uh-oh!  Shana…  Where’s my highly advanced sense of humor? 

It’s always in the last place you look!

Hi Shana, it’s Caralyn!!!  It was so nice of you and your mother to come to my house today and test my Vitamin C!

(Below is Shana at Caralyn’s house.)

We had a great time!

So, back to dosing levels… When one experiences abdominal discomfort, including diarrhea, then it is clear that bowel tolerance has been reached!  The good news is, it is at this time that one knows precisely the correct therapeutic dose.  Simply reduce the dose to the one that preceded these symptoms and the full benefit of ascorbic acid can be had.

But here’s the other thing, Caralyn; vitamin C gets used up by the body quickly!  So, evenly distributing it throughout the day, to keep your levels constant, is a must, a lot better than taking a huge dose all at once.  In other words, you shouldn’t think you can take a whole day’s supply at breakfast time and it will still be there at lunch because it won’t!

Good point, Elaine.  Think about all the animals that synthesize their own vitamin C. 

I’m thinking about them now!  Giraffes … elephants … marsupials ….

They are getting an even, steady amount throughout the day, just like nature intended.  We would do best to ingest vitamin C in the same way.

Evenly and throughout the day.  P.S., what’s the name of your product?

Sufficient-C®

That’s a clever name!

Elaine, this is a one-of-a-kind drink mix!  It was created because I knew that getting vitamin C when your immune system needs it most is not easy!  It has been made so the consumer can benefit by the sheer convenience of it; plus, we used Quali®C ascorbic acid.  It is NON-GMO and made in Scotland. Typically, the ascorbic acid available in the United States is imported from China and genetically modified.  

Now that’s shocking!  But I should have known!

The pleasant flavor of Sufficient-C allows this high quality supplement to double as a delicious beverage too!

That’s good, Caralyn, because I have to tell you, your main competitor’s product, Emergen-C, tastes kind of harsh.  I always have to chase it down with a glass of water and the crystals don’t always dissolve.

If one were to look at the supplement facts of Sufficient-C and compare it to Emergen-C, it is very clear that these drinks are entirely different.  The only similarity is that there is ascorbic acid in both drinks but the quantity and the quality of the ascorbic acid is very different.  There is only 1,000 mg. of vitamin C in a glass of Emergen-C.  In Sufficient-C, there’s a whopping 4,000 mg. of vitamin C in each glass!

Four times as much!

Plus, our drink contains a patented form of green tea extract called TEAVIGO®, plus L-lysine and bromelain and real natural flavors, not MSG.  BUT the best part is….IT IS 100% STEVIA SWEETENED!!!! Adding sugar was not an option since sugar impedes vitamin C absorption.  Plus I love stevia!

You know, you’re right!  Sugar destroys both vitamin C and the B vitamins!  But Caralyn, I should probably warn people that Stevia, being a plant, does not taste exactly like sugar and hence, it may take some getting used to.  I will say this, it was very easy to drink, no harsh flavors, no need to wash it down with water and it tastes like lemonade.  So, I am looking at my box of Emergen-C now, and I’m reading the ingredients, and it says….OMG!  The first ingredient listed, other than ascorbic acid, is, guess what?  Sugar!  And the next ingredient is…OMG!…Fructose, which is just another way of saying “sugar”! 

I wanted the consumers of Sufficient-C to really enjoy drinking it.  This was very important to me.  The last thing I wanted was for anyone to waste their money on another product destined to sit on a shelf or in a cabinet, never to be seen or heard from again.  We have even made Sufficient-C 100% water soluble to avoid particles floating, sinking or sticking to the side of the glass!  It has a nice smooth texture too, just like lemonade (minus the pulp).

I can attest to that!

There’s a convenient scoop to make measuring and/or customizing one’s desired dose a breeze.  Just add cool spring water, stir and enjoy.  This drink makes for a satisfying beverage with dinner, during a hot summer day or just because… Sufficient-C not only supports the immune system, it also supports our belief that supporting the immune system should be a delicious experience!

Caralyn, please tell me; why you?  What’s the story behind this product?

Everyone has a story and mine has to do with two people; one is my mother and the other, believe it or not, is YOU!

Moi?

A few years back I was up ’til the wee hours of the morning preparing for Thanksgiving company.

I remember!

I had a UTI (bladder infection) that had become intolerable by 1:00 am.  I needed to think fast. Everyone in my house was asleep.  I had a mountain of cooking still ahead of me and there was no one to help me…no one except for the hope that maybe you, Elaine, were still on-line!

At 1:00 in the morning, that’s a pretty safe bet!

I emailed you and sure enough, you e-mailed me back and told me to take as much vitamin C as I could. At the time I just had the 500 mg. chewables in the house.

I know, and that really worried me!  Only chewables, I said?  I suddenly had my doubts!

But chew away I did.  You kept me busy with e-mails back and forth and within 20 minutes I felt REAL relief.

I remember so well!

In fact I never needed to go to the doctor!

I had the same experience years ago!  That’s how I knew what to do!

This totally validates my own experience with Vitamin C!  That single moment really changed the way I looked at the power of ascorbic acid.

I remember this so well, I’ve told people about it!  I remember it like it was yesterday!  You had a whole dinner to cook, guests coming in from out of town, a whole Thanksgiving Dinner weighing on your shoulders, and to have a bladder infection in the midst of all that?  OMG!  In the middle of the night?  Forget about it!  That is a real crisis!

Moreover, a few years ago my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer.  She still holds fast to the belief that modern day oncology is her salvation which has proven a huge stumbling block as far as taking any advice from me is concerned!  I do believe that oncology has its place.

Yes, the Bermuda Triangle!

( Ha!  Funny!!!!!)  Don’t get me wrong, but I knew and I was trying so hard to convince her that above all else she needed to boost her immune system!  No one on her team of specialists seemed to take much stock in her “immune system”.  It was unfortunate that they failed to ever mention the value of supporting her body in any natural way.

No, they didn’t fail to mention it, Caralyn.  Boosting the immune system is not what they’re paid to do, it’s not what they learned to do in medical school, and it’s not their job!  Their job is to diagnose and write prescriptions!  Boosting the immune system involves natural substances like foods, herbs and vitamins, and doctors are very hostile to those things, it actually infuriates them!  Try mentioning Vitamin C to a doctor and see what happens!  One of my clients, when diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, asked her doctor what she should eat.  “Eat whatever you want,” he said.

No way!  Oh, don’t get me started, Elaine!  So, since boosting the immune system was not supported by the “professionals”, I was left with pretty much zero credibility in my mother’s eyes.  Of course, cancer needs a lot thrown at it, but I believed strongly that high quality non-GMO vitamin C had to be “part” of her arsenal of treatments.

Well, of course, you are right!

She needed to drink a lot of liquids to counter-act the challenges that chemo was presenting.  But my mother by nature is not one to feel thirsty.  I wanted her to drink gallons when in fact she was struggling with sips and plain water was too bland for her.  It became my father’s full time job to remind her every five minutes to “drink”.  Needless to say, she had several emergency room visits due to dehydration.  Being her daughter, I knew I needed to do something and so…. (drum-roll, please….)

Sufficient-C was born!!!!

This drink has been successfully keeping my mother hydrated and fortified with vitamin C!  While ascorbic acid takes center stage with Sufficient-C, also included in the ingredients are high doses of TEAVIGO 95% pure green tea, boasting 25 clinical studies, as well as L-Lysine, a very important amino acid and bromelain, a digestive and proteolytic enzyme, making for a powerful immune strengthening drink.  By the way, my mother has used this drink in conjunction with I.V. Vitamin C intermittently over the years.  However, the cost of I.V. vitamin C became prohibitive.  Also I want to be clear that high doses of oral vitamin C is not intended to replace I.V. vitamin C.

Why not?  Why can’t it replace it?  In fact, your mother is no longer on IV vitamin C which suggests that it can replace it.  I think if people hear that they STILL have to be on IV vitamin C, they might think, “Why should I buy Sufficient-C, what’s the point?”

Elaine, it would be misleading to tell people that oral vitamin C can replace I.V. vitamin C.  They both have a valuable place when it comes to healing.

Caralyn, HOW did you do it?  How does one go about creating such a product?

Long story short, I researched and researched the best quality ingredients.  There are many high quality dietary supplement options on the market today, but unfortunately there are too many inferior choices as well.  With my mother in mind, my goal was to create a drink that people would choose to quench their thirst on a hot summer day.  In short I hope this drink refreshes the palates of those who seriously need it and also for those who will use it as prevention.

And, we are very proud that our canister is 100% recyclable, made from 86% recyclable material and FDA approved.

Listen everybody, you can order Sufficient-C at www.SufficientC.com, plus, it will soon be available at Vitamin Shoppe online (www.vitaminshoppe.com)

Good-bye, Caralyn, and thanks for creating something that a lot of people are going to need!  I plan to get my allergic patients to order this right away!

Thanks to you too, Elaine!

__________________________________________

Caralyn Vessal is a student at the British Institute of Homeopathy

email her: [email protected]

visit her website: www.sufficientc.com