Vitamin C is a Heavyweight Among Vitamins!

It is necessary for human life, yet oddly humans are among the few animals that do not manufacture vitamin C – we have to eat it.

The majority of animals (like plants) make their own, but not primates (gorillas, monkeys and human beings).

Some birds, insets, fish and bats also lack the gene for manufacturing vitamin C. But animals (such as goats) that do synthesize C may produce huge amounts daily. Gorillas, which must consume vitamin C, get lots of it from fruits—far more than the average human.

A Big Dispute: How Much C Do We Need?

From here it is tempting to jump to the conclusion that more is better. If gorillas need a lot of it, how about humans? It takes just 30 to 60 milligrams of vitamin C daily to prevents scurvy, so wouldn’t four times as much have other health benefits?

If C in food is good, wouldn’t supplements be even more powerful? Wouldn’t a hundred times as much cure the common cold? Prevent cataracts?

[note color=”#dce9f9″]Current government guidelines call for 75 milligrams daily for women and 90 milligrams for men—the amount in about 6 ounces of orange juice. Smokers need an extra 35 milligrams a day, as do those exposed to tobacco smoke. The safe upper limit is 2,000 milligrams.[/note]

Unfortunately, none of this—no matter how logical it seems—has proved to be the case. We need it to stay healthy, or even alive.  It has yet to be shown that large doses accomplish anything.

It is only one important compound supplied by fruits and vegetables, and the combination of C and other nutrients—not any one substance alone—seems to add up to good health.

[pullquote align=”right”]”Next, I’d suggest trying 10 grams of vitamin C and MSM daily (go to GNC or any health food store), taken in 2g doses split throughout the day.” – Timothy Ferriss answered user question on September 24, 2011[/pullquote]

From 1932 when chemists isolated vitamin C,  until now, no vitamin has been the subject of more research. Thousands of studies of C have been done, at a cost of millions (or billions) of dollars. And yet, we have learned very little.

The wisdom of consuming foods that contain vitamin C is incontestable. But small amounts of the vitamin seem to work as well as larger amounts, and no one has shown that supplements are beneficial.

Despite this evidence many people believe that vitamin C will prevent or cure almost every disease!

Some Facts are Not in Dispute:

• Vitamin C prevents and cures scurvy, a disease that, because of improvements in diet worldwide, is hardly seen any more.
• It is a powerful antioxidant, meaning that it neutralizes potentially harmful free radicals in our bodies. (However, it may also, under some conditions, become a pro-oxidant, meaning it can promote the production of free radicals.)
• It is essential for healthy skin and connective tissue, and for the absorption of iron, as well as other functions.
• It is water-soluble, and the body can store only small amounts; excess C is eliminated by the kidneys.

Thus, humans must consume vitamin C on a regular basis. Many fruits and vegetables are rich in it, especially citrus fruits, peppers, broccoli, strawberries, and cantaloupe. Cooking and processing reduce vitamin C.

See Table

Other Important Findings About Vitamin C:

• According to the Natural Standard (a group of scientists that reviews findings in alternative medicine), there is no clear evidence that vitamin C prevents or cures cancer, cataracts, or heart disease.
• An analysis of studies on antioxidant supplements in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that vitamin C pills do not help people live longer.
• Many studies have shown that smokers and people exposed to secondhand smoke have lower blood levels of vitamin C and that they need to consume more C—hence the government recommendation that smokers need extra C. Of course, quitting smoking and avoiding smoke would benefit them more.
• Studies of vitamin C as a possible cancer treatment are underway, but so far the news has not been encouraging. There is also some concern that high doses of C may actually harm cancer patients—for example, by interfering with chemotherapy.

Bottom line:

[note color=”#c1dff6″]

• In spite of the thousands of studies conducted since the 1930s, the only certainty is that vitamin C prevents scurvy and plays other basic roles in human health.
• An intake of 75 to 90 milligrams daily appears to be all you really need.
• More does not seem to be better, except in the case of smokers—and then only an extra 35 milligrams is needed.
• If, however, you eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily, as is recommend, you’ll get far more C—probably 200 to 500 milligrams a day. There’s no evidence you need this much, but such a diet will also supply many other nutrients that, all together, will help keep you healthy and may reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease. In other words, in striving to consume more C, you’ll improve your diet. Supplementation is not necessary or recommended.

[/note]

Should you still choose to supplement:

Buffered ascorbic acid can be a better choice.  It combines calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate, and potassium ascorbate to create a neutral pH vitamin C.

• This special form of ascorbic acid lessens possible gastric irritation in sensitive individuals. The acidity of ascorbic vitamin C can easily cause stomach upset, even leading to diarrhea. The buffered form provides the same benefits, while causing less intestinal irritation, and less likelihood of loose bowels.
• Due to its calcium and magnesium addition, buffered vitamin C is more slowly absorbed into the system.
• Buffered vitamin C may also be better suited for the body when taking high doses of the supplement.

Buffered Ascobric Acid

Manufacturer: Pure Encapsulations, Now Foods Vitamin C for sensitive individuals Each Pure Encapsulation Vegetarian Capsule Contains buffered ascorbic acid 1,000 mg. providing vitamin C equivalent of 500 mg. from: calcium ascorbate 520 mg. magnesium ascorbate 340 mg. potassium ascorbate 140 mg. vitamin C (as ascorbyl palmitate) 20 mg. Suggested Use: 2-8 vegetarian capsules per day, in divided doses, with or between meals.

Weather you believe in a cheat day or not there are some points here that are spot on when it comes to developing a diet plan that is congruent with longevity and better living.

Tim attempts to hack away at the core principles of nutrition and develop a system that not only helps you lose weight but control dangerous spikes in blood glucose. This is not revolutionary, Tim just made a timely entrance to a well-documented idea that a slow carb lifestyle coupled with smart supplementation can be a very good weight loss (and quite possibly life extending) solution.

The Slow Carb Diet is all about optimizing blood glucose. But just what is too much blood glucose? You may be surprised that what your doctor has told you may not be what you really need to know.

Over the next several weeks I am going to make you sick of glucose. But you are going to see that the 4-Hour Body is just a starter kit on your way to understanding and optimizing your life (as well as your blood glucose levels).

If you are serious about your health and enhancing your 4 hours of life there are some fascinating new advances that might surprise you.

Today we are going to look at glucose by the numbers and then over several posts we are going to hack away to improve on what you have already learned in the 4 Hour Body.

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GLUCOSE: THE SILENT KILLER

The deadly effects of even slightly elevated glucose are fatally misunderstood.

One reason for this calamity is as medical professionals we continue to rely on obsolete blood glucose ranges. We fail to recognize that any excess glucose creates lethal metabolic pathologies that are underlying factors behind multiple age-related diseases.

People today thus suffer and die from diabetic-like complications without knowing their blood sugar (glucose) levels are too high!

For quite some time researchers have argued that most aging people have elevated blood glucose. This position has been vindicated as mainstream medicine consistently lowers the upper-level threshold of acceptable (safe) fasting blood glucose.

As new evidence accumulates, it has become abundantly clear that maturing individuals need to take aggressive actions to ensure their fasting and after-meal glucose levels are kept in safe ranges.

Glucose Is Like Gasoline

Our body’s primary source of energy is glucose. All of our cells use it, and when there is not enough glucose available, our body shuts down in a similar way that a car engine stops when the gasoline tank is empty.

When glucose is properly utilized, our cells produce energy efficiently. As cellular sensitivity to insulin diminishes, excess glucose accumulates in our bloodstream. Like spilled gasoline, excess blood glucose creates a highly combustible environment from which oxidative and inflammatory fires chronically erupt.

Excess glucose not used for energy production converts to triglycerides that are either stored as unwanted body fat or accumulate in the blood where they contribute to the formation of atherosclerotic plaque.

If you were filling your automobile with gasoline and the tank reached full, you would not keep pumping in more gas. Yet most people keep fueling their bodies with excess energy (glucose) with little regard to the deadly consequences.

As an aging human, you face a daily onslaught of excess glucose that poses a greater risk to your safety than overflowing gasoline. Surplus glucose relentlessly reacts with your body’s proteins, causing damaging glycation reactions while fueling the fires of chronic inflammation and inciting the production of destructive free radicals.

The Evolving Definition of Type 2 Diabetes

Medical dictionaries define diabetes as a condition whereby the body is not able to regulate blood glucose levels, resulting in too much glucose being present in the blood. The debate is over what level of blood glucose is considered “too high.”

Nearly four decades ago, many experts began emphatically stating that fasting blood glucose should be below 100 (mg/dL). Yet from 1979 to 1997, the medical establishment dictated that one of the criteria for a diagnosis of diabetes was fasting glucose readings of 140 mg/dL or higher on two separate occasions.

In 1997, the medical establishment revised the fasting glucose threshold for a diagnosis of diabetes to 126 mg/dL. In addition, the medical establishment (American Diabetes Association), characterized the so-called impaired fasting glucose threshold level at 110 mg/dL, which was subsequently lowered in 2003 to what was originally postulated, i.e. that no one should have fasting glucose 100 mg/dL or higher.

The problem is that we now know that the optimal fasting glucose ranges are 70-85 mg/dL based upon the totality of the scientific evidence.

Those with glucose above 85 mg/dL are at increased risk of heart attack. This was shown in a study of nearly 2,000 men where fasting blood glucose levels were measured over a 22-year period. The startling results showed that men with fasting glucose over 85 (mg/dL) had a 40% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

The researchers who conducted this study stated “fasting blood glucose values in the upper normal range appears to be an important independent predictor of cardiovascular death in non diabetic apparently healthy middle-aged men.”

So pull out your latest blood test result and see where you stand. At a minimum, you want to see your fasting glucose below 86 mg/dL.

WHERE DOES BLOOD GLUCOSE COME FROM?

Glucose accumulates in the blood primarily from carbohydrate foods we eat.

Less understood is the role of saturated fats that impair insulin sensitivity. When cells lose their sensitivity to insulin, glucose levels increase because it is not able to be utilized by energy producing cells. When people take compounds that block fat absorption and carbohydrate breakdown, fasting glucose levels plummet, along with triglycerides and cholesterol.

Digested carbohydrate foods are the primary source of blood glucose. We can control blood glucose by reducing calorie intake, blocking calorie absorption, and/or enhancing the ability of our cells to efficiently utilize glucose for energy production.

Why Any “Excess” Glucose is Dangerous

Sugar damages cells via multiple mechanisms and is a causative factor in common diseases of aging.

In a group of humans who reduced their food intake to calorie restriction levels, fasting glucose declined to an average of 74 mg/dL. This corresponds to animal studies in which caloric restriction induced significant reductions in blood glucose in conjunction with extension of life span.

It is well established that cutting calorie intake reduces one’s risk of age-related diseases and slows markers of aging.  One reason for this may be the reduction in blood glucose (and insulin) levels that occurs in response to ingesting fewer calories.

In a study of 33,230 men, high glucose was independently associated with a 38%increase in deaths from digestive tract cancers.  Other studies show that diabetics have even greater increased cancer risks.

Diabetics suffer such horrific incidences of vascular disorders that some experts believe that coronary artery occlusion and diabetes should be classified as the same disease. In other words, if you are diabetic, you are almost certainly going to suffer coronary atherosclerosis.

In a recent study involving 1,800 people, coronary disease rates were the same over a 10-year period in pre-diabetics compared to those with full-blown diabetes. The authors of the study commented that impaired fasting glucose significantly increased risk in comparison with the normal glucose group and concluded:

“Early control of blood glucose is essential to prevention and control of coronary heart disease.”

As people age, their fasting glucose levels usually increase as their health declines.

Standard laboratory reference ranges allow an upper-limit of fasting glucose of 99 mg/dL. Yet the most effective anti-aging therapy—caloric restriction—lowers fasting glucose levels to the 70-85 mg/dL range.

Recent studies indicate that keeping fasting glucose levels in the range of 70-85 mg/dL and not allowing after-meal glucose levels to spike higher than 40 mg/dL over your fasting value, favorably influences our longevity genes.

The take-home lesson is that one can slash their risks of age-related diseases and possibly slow their rate of aging by tightly controlling blood glucose levels.

Shield Your Body From Excess Glucose Moving Beyond PAGG/AGG

I cannot emphasize the critical importance for those with glucose levels above 85 mg/dL to develop a method to help shield one’s bloodstream against dangerous glucose-insulin spikes.

There are several well documented ways that one can protect against postprandial (after meal glucose spikes) that go well beyond those mentioned by Tim Ferriss in the 4-Hour Body.

We will begin focusing on these in the next post. In the meantime call your doctor’s office and get a copy of your last fasting glucose level. You may be surprised by what you see!

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One of the most interesting is IF’S effects on insulin resistance. From what I can tell this seems to be a benefit regardless of caloric intake on non-fasting days and independent of weight loss.

When I was a kid I knew of two people who fasted regularly 1. Mahatma Gandhi, and 2. My father: who would go on solo treks into the woods and fast for over a week. I never understood this, but I remember him telling me that after a few days he would feel a sense of peace and euphoria. I always figured these were the earliest stages of a man dying.

But, according to Tim you can mimic, even exceed, the supposed life-extending effects of caloric restriction with intermittent fasting (IF).

This can be true even if you consume twice as many calories as normal during your “on” times, resulting in no total decrease in weekly calories.

There are several versions of IF and semi-IF protocols popular among experimental subcultures.

I will be discussing and paraphrasing those mentioned in the 4-Hour Body with a brief afterwards on IF and life extension. The majority of this is verbatim from the book.

Fast-5

Fast for 19 hours beginning at bedtime, followed by five hours of eating as much as necessary to satisfy hunger.

This is popular for moderate weight loss, which typically appears starting in the third week and averages one pound of loss per week thereafter. Some research suggests IF confers the same life-extension benefits as caloric restriction only when calories are consumed during daylight hours. This would, if accurate, make the Fast-5 better for fat loss than longevity.

ADCR: Alternate Day Caloric Restriction (ADCR)

Requires that calories be cut 50–80% every other day.

It has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, autoimmune disease, and even asthma after just two weeks.

Protein cycling

A single day per week of restricting protein to no more than 5% of maintenance calories can produce effects similar to extended caloric restriction.

If the mechanism of intermittent fasting or caloric restriction is a genetic self-preservation response, protein cycling makes sense. There are no essential dietary carbohydrates. Simply reducing calories (or carbs) wouldn’t necessarily qualify as a biological emergency. On the other hand, even brief absences of essential amino acids like lysine might be enough to flip the switch. The “switch” in our context is triggering a process of cellular housekeeping called autophagy, the purpose of which is, in Dr. Mignery’s words, “to clear the cell of degraded and aggregated proteins that are not being handled by the other recycling mechanisms of the cell.” In principle, if you clear the junk out faster than it builds up, you postpone or reverse aging.

Below is a sample menu described by Tim Ferriss in the 4 Hour Body for one day of less than 5% protein, adapted from Dr. Mignery. It is distinctly non-Slow-Carb.

Miscellaneous breakfast

Breakfast can include wheat-based (lysine-deficient) products such as toast, muffins, or bagels, provided that wheat is the only substantial source of protein, and its calories are heavily diluted with calories from non-protein sources (butter, sugar, juice, fruit, etc.).

Toast with mushrooms, onions, and gravy

You can thicken the fat or drippings from meat with starch to make a gravy and drizzle it over the toast, mushrooms, and onions.

Spinach with vinegar

Microwaved frozen spinach (<2 cups) can be flavored with any kind of vinegar for a near-protein-free dish with the warmth and chew of meat.

Meat substitutes

A microwaved slice of eggplant can fill a sandwich and give something of the shape and texture of a lunch meat. Black olives can also provide something of the texture of meat without the protein.

Bean substitutes

Beans and peas are fairly high in protein and cannot be eaten in the restriction phase of protein cycling. But you can substitute spheres of cassava starch called tapioca pearls. They are a staple of tropical cuisine and are available in a wide range of sizes and colors. You may be familiar with them if you have ever had bubble tea.

Here is Tim’s approach to the protein cycling dilemma (A Prelude to Cheat Day)

I fast following an early Friday dinner (6 P.M.) and then, around 10 A.M. the next morning (16 hours later), I eat 1 cup spinach with vinegar and spices, one slice of sourdough toast with lots of butter, and enjoy it all with a large glass of grapefruit juice. Delish. Sometime after noon, I’ll then head off to eat my usual chocolate croissants and continue cheat day as a binge monster.

Some Final Thoughts on IF and Life Extension

When you look at the studies (most of which are done in animal models) it looks like intermittent fasting extends lifespan in rats and mice only when it is accompanied by calorie restriction. Animals are not put on caloric restriction; rather, they just naturally end up eating less (unlike humans, who tend to be very flexible and good at compensating for calories). And, in the rare cases that the animals actually do eat twice as much the next day, their lifespans are not increased.

For those who are doing intermittent fasting for other reasons than life extension – such as improving insulin sensitivity or weight loss – this is not necessarily a concern.

While some of the other health benefits reported in the studies are probably a result of calorie restriction, just like lifespan increases, I presume that intermittent fasting even without caloric restriction still has some health benefits in humans. It’s just that based on the rodent studies, those benefits won’t be enough to make us live longer.

Internet Resources

• Fast 5.com (Web Link)
• The Inhuman Experience (Blog)
• The Protein Cycling Diet (Web link)
• Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever (BOOK LINK)