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From: slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: How much Vitamin C?
Message-ID: <688@drutx.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 22-Nov-85 10:39:36 EST
Article-I.D.: drutx.688
Posted: Fri Nov 22 10:39:36 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 24-Nov-85 03:58:23 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 54

>If you measure the ascorbate levels of other mammals which do produce 
>endogenous C, and extrapolate to determine what is needed in the 165 lb
>man to produce similar levels (not just serum, but leucocyte levels),
>it comes to between 1-3 grams (depending upon the animal analysed).  In
>addition, making some educated guesses at the foodstuffs eaten by earlier
>hunter/gatherer man and estimating his caloric requirement at somewhat
>greater than modern sedentary man (about 4000 calories), then calculating
>the C which might have been ingested to acquire this caloric input, the
>numbers show about the same thing.  
>--Kne

I guess the first thing that bothers me about this is that it seems 
doubtful that any human being ever actually got that much Vitamin C regularly 
before we had the chemistry to produce pure Vitamin C.  That is, it's not 
very natural.

The amount of Vitamin C in one orange is 50 mg. (from the Encyclopedia 
Britanica).  This means that you need to eat 20 oranges to get 1 gram of
Vitamin C.  That's a lot of oranges.  For 3 grams it's 60 oranges a day.
I doubt that you can stuff that many oranges into your tummy in a day.
And that's not going to give you the protein and fats you need to stay
healthy.  (You need to eat something besides fruits, and they are the best
sources of Vitamin C.)

You could do better with lemons.  It only takes 4 whole lemons to make
a gram of Vitamin C (242 mg. per lemon).  But whole, raw lemons haven't
been a staple in a lot of diets I've heard of.  (Personally, I love them.)
It's possible that some jungle tribes who eat only fruit have
often gotten that much...but the great bulk of humanity has never been
able to approach it until now.  Do we really know the long-term effects
of large quantities of this substance?

The second thing that bothers me is that there are people who take lots
of vitamins on the premise that "if a little is good, a lot is better."
Kne doesn't seem to be one of those--but I've met some.  That's a 
dangerous mind-set.

There's also the feeling that "if I take too much, that's OK, 'cause it
won't hurt me."  But some--Vitamin A, for instance--*will* hurt you.
Vitamin C is excreted if you take lots--but what's the effect on the kidneys
of this happening constantly?

Anyway, if you feel it helps you, fine.  I'm just not really sure it's
healthy or natural to get that much Vitamin C.
-- 

                                     Sue Brezden
                                     ihnp4!drutx!slb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      To search for perfection is all very well,
      But to look for heaven is to live here in hell.   
                                       --Sting
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