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What You Should Be Doing NOW to Protect Yourself from Radiation
It is well-known that potassium iodide works to protect against damage from radioactive iodine by saturating our body (the thyroid gland, specifically) with harmless iodine, so that our bodies are unable to absorb radioactive iodine from nuclear accidents.
For example, the World Health Organization notes:
The thyroid gland is at particular risk from irradiation from radioactive iodine because the thyroid uses iodine to produce hormones that regulate the body’s metabolism. The thyroid gland does not differentiate between non-radioactive and radioactive iodine.
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When taken at the appropriate dosage and within the correct time interval around exposure to radioactive iodine, KI [i.e. potassium iodide] saturates the thyroid gland with stable (non-radioactive) iodine. As a result, radioactive iodine will not be taken up and stored by the thyroid gland.
However, KI only protects against one particular radioactive element, radioactive iodine, which has a half life of only 8.02 days.* That means that the iodine loses half of its radioactivity within 8 days. For example, after the initial Fukushima melt-down, radioactive iodine was found in California kelp.
But the longer-term threat lies elsewhere. As the New York Times noted – in addition to iodine-131 – the big danger is cesium:
Over the long term, the big threat to human health is cesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years.
At that rate of disintegration, John Emsley wrote in “Nature’s Building Blocks” (Oxford, 2001), “it takes over 200 years to reduce it to 1 percent of its former level.”
It is cesium-137 that still contaminates much of the land in Ukraine around the Chernobyl reactor.
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Cesium-137 mixes easily with water and is chemically similar to potassium. It thus mimics how potassium gets metabolized in the body and can enter through many foods, including milk.
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The Environmental Protection Agency says that … once dispersed in the environment … cesium-137 “is impossible to avoid.”
Cesium-137 is light enough to be carried by the wind a substantial distance. And it is being carried by ocean currents towards the West Coast of North America.
Fortunately – while little-known in the medical community – other harmless minerals can help “saturate” our bodies so as to minimize the uptake of other harmful types of radiation.
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Army Medical Department Center and School explained in its book Medical Consequences of Radiological and Nuclear Weapons (Chapter 4):
One of the keys to a successful treatment outcome is to reduce or eliminate the uptake of internalized radionuclides before they can reach the critical organ.
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The terms “blocking” or “diluting” agent can, in most cases, be used interchangeably. These compounds reduce the uptake of a radionuclide by saturating binding sites with a stable, nonradioactive element, thereby diluting the deleterious effect of the radioisotope. For example, potassium iodide is the FDA-recommended treatment to prevent radioactive iodine from being sequestered in the thyroid…. Nonradioactive strontium compounds may also be used to block the uptake of radioactive strontium. In addition, elements with chemical properties similar to the internalized radio-nuclide are often used as blocking agents. For example, calcium, and to a lesser extent phosphorus, can be used to block uptake of radioactive strontium.
The American Association of Physicists In Medicine agrees:
As does the book published in 2006 by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, called Weapons of Mass Casualties and Terrorism Response:
After the U.S. military conducted above-ground nuclear tests on Bikini Island, scientists found that adding potassium to the soil reduced the uptake of radioactive cesium by the plants:
The first of a series of long-term field experiments was established on Bikini Island during the late 1980s to evaluate potential remediation techniques to reduce the uptake of cesium-137 into plants (Robison and Stone, 1998). Based on these experiments, the most effective and practical method for reducing the uptake of cesium-137 into food crop products was to treat agricultural areas with potassium fertilizer (KCl).
John Harte – Professor at the University of California at Berkeley in Energy and Resources and Ecosystem Sciences, a PhD physicist who previously taught physics at Yale, a recipient of the Pew Scholars Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, the Leo Szilard prize from the American Physical Society, and who has served on six National Academy of Sciences Committees and has authored over 170 scientific publications, including six books - notes:
Marine fish are usually about 100 times lower in cesium-137 than are freshwater fish because potassium, which is more abundant in seawater, blocks uptake of cesium by marine organisms.
The same is true in mammals. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry notes:
Cesium is a close chemical analogue of potassium. Cesium has been shown to compete with potassium for transport through potassium channels and can also substitute for potassium in activation of the sodium pump and subsequent transport into the cell.
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Elimination rates of cesium may be altered by potassium intake. Following the intraperitoneal injection of 137 Cs in rats, a basal diet supplemented with 8–11% potassium resulted in cesium clearance of 60 days compared to about 120 days for rats receiving the unsupplemented basal diet that contained 1% potassium
(Richmond and Furchner 1961). After 20 days on the diets, rats receiving supplemental potassium had body burdens of 137 Cs that were one-half those of the rats not receiving supplemental potassium. This finding shows that supplemental potassium reduces the uptake and increases the elimination of ingested 137 Cs.
Dr. Ingrid Kohlstadt – a medical doctor with a master’s of public health, on the Faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, editor of the best-seller Food and Nutrients in Disease Management – says that the same is true for humans:
Plutonium is treated like iron by our bodies. So getting enough iron will help reduce absorption of plutonium. And see this. (Plutonium is a very heavy element, and so normally cannot travel too far. Therefore, adequate iron intake is primarily important for those living in Japan.)
Here are the recommended daily allowances (RDA) for various minerals (data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture):
You can buy calcium, potassium, iron supplements. You can also buy non-radioactive strontium supplements. Or incorporate foods high in calcium, potassium, and iron.
(Selenium also helps protect our bodies from radiation. See this, this and this.)
In addition to these minerals, getting enough of certain vitamins is helpful.
A number of scientific articles conclude that Vitamin A helps to protect us from radiation. See this, this and this.
Numerous studies show that Vitamin C helps to protect the body against radiation.
Vitamin D can help repair damage to DNA, and may help protect against low-level radiation. As Science Daily reports:
Radiological health expert Daniel Hayes, Ph.D., of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene suggests that a form of vitamin D could be one of our body’s main protections against damage from low levels of radiation. Writing in the International Journal of Low Radiation, Hayes explains that calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, may protect us from background radiation and could be used as a safe protective agent before or after a low-level nuclear incident.
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“Vitamin D by its preventive/ameliorating actions should be given serious consideration as a protective agent against sublethal radiation injury, and in particular that induced by low-level radiation,” concludes Hayes.
It takes a couple of weeks or months to build up our body’s levels of Vitamin D. You cannot just pop a bunch of pills and raise your Vitamin D level. You should never take more than the recommended dose, and – even if you did – it wouldn’t raise your vitamin D level all at once. As such, we should start now …
Vitamin E has also shown promise in protecting from low-level radiation, at least in animal studies. Here and here.
Here are the RDAs for vitamins (data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture):
You can buy vitamin supplements, or eat foods rich in vitamins A, C, D and E.
Antioxidant-rich foods also help protect you against low-level radiation. See this for the science behind antioxidant protection from radiation, tips on inexpensive, anti-oxidant rich foods ... and other valuable tips on how to protect yourself from radiation.
The bottom line: starting to saturate your body now with the right types of healthy vitamins, minerals and antioxidants can help protect you against radiation if it hits in the future.
Postscript: We only advocate taking the RDA for various nutrients, which is healthy for you anyway. We are not talking about mega-doses.
We have spent hours looking through medical journal articles for other foods which help protect against radiation. Here are the results.
For a more complete discussion of commonly-accepted scientific consensus on different prevention and treatment options, please review the Army’s Medical Consequences of Radiological and Nuclear Weapons and the The American Association of Physicists In Medicine’s Medical Management of Radionuclide Internal Contamination.
* You should not take potassium iodide supplements unless you are exposed to high doses of radioactive iodine, because it can damage some people's health. These supplements are only for short-term, high-dose ratiation protection, not for years-long low-dose exposure. For long-term exposures, a daily, baseline level of iodine is healthier.
Potassium iodide is found in most common table salt. However, if exposed to air, the iodine content can largely evaporate within a month or so. So store your salt in as air-tight a condition as possible. Also, it is important not to ingest too much potassium iodide, and most of us already get a lot of salt in our diets from processed foods. (The RDA for “sodium” – i.e. salt – is listed in the table above on the RDAs for various minerals)
Here is RDA for iodine:
And here are some iodine-rich foods.
Click here for a discussion by two medical doctors about preventative iodine doses.
Disclaimer: We are not doctors or health professionals, and this should not be taken as medical advice. Nothing contained herein is intended to diagnose or treat any condition.
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I've been chowing bananas every day for over a year...hopefully that takes care of enough potassium intake in case any cesium is around me. Luckily, I live in Florida, but have visited home (Oregon) twice in the last 2 years, and in my opinion the Pac NW is getting hammered with radiation via air and ocean.
Also, I've been taking nascent iodine now for about 2 months. I've been taking the new Survival Shield stuff offered via the Infowars site at this link:
http://www.infowarsshop.com/-Infowars-Life_c_79.html
I actually think I feel better in general since taking this twice day...more energy and all that good stuff. And another good side effect of nascent iodine is that it nullifies fluoride in your body. Even though I use a ProPur filter with fluoride filtration I still like that nascent iodine is in me to take care of any fluoride in the water that the ProPur might possibly miss.
Iodine gets your thyroid cranking too...it starts to work hard to produce what your body needs to run properly. Most people are massively iodine deficient and at the same time are overdosed on fluoride.
This was by design by the government taking iodine out of table salt and breads while also introducing nasty fluoride into our drinking water. They wanted to passify and dumb people down with fluoride like the Nazi's did to the Jews in WWII.
Order up some nascent iodine...the formula above also tastes very good...it's in a basic glycerin type liquid form and is the purest form that you can get on the market right now.
Get it now...it's hard to get because it's hard for them to produce a lot of it. And if Fukushim blows up again then it will be impossible to get anything once the sheeple wake up and stampede for every bit of iodine they can find. Sheep always wait until it's too late.
And not to mention America is full of outdated nuke plants that could pop anytime one of these years...so even though I'm in Florida there is still a chance for radiation down here from many sources.
Too much iodine can cause BOTH hypo & hyper thyroidism.
Might want to read "Stop the thyroid madness" & "Hypothyroidism type II" before you start dosing.
Don't jack with your thyroid.
I eat 2-3 a day but was told there isn't enough potassium in them, 480 mg when you need 4800mgs.I don't like them that much besides too much sugar.
Potato has 694 mg
Beets,Greens, white Beans, Raisins, Dates 1/2 cup 550-600mg
Yogurt 1 cup 575mgA quarter cup of tomato paste has 664 mg
OJ A 6-ounce serving of orange juice contains 332 mg
You really need to eat smart all day to get what you need.Most of what you list have other negative aspects in the chase for potassium.
Greens NOT LETTUCE but greems, broccoli, etc are the best.
Yogurt must be plain and full fat or you are pissing in the wind. If it comes from huge produces like Dannon or the like it is most likely shit and you will miss out onthe important flora.
The article refers to Vit D and could not be more correct. Teach your body to manufacture its own. Lose the sunscreen, actually get outside and supplement with liquids forms or powder as vitamins and minerals in pill form end up in the toilet as they are not soluable when taken orally.
Bananas, OJ, dates, raisins are all just sugar. Fuki radiation may kill us all and then again it may not. Sugars on the other hand IS killing us all just slowly and with greate expense.
Paranoia will destroy ya, most table salt still has iodide in it, including the stuff in restaurant food. In fact, I read a research piece where they analyzed MacDonalds food and found high levels of iodide. As for flouride, this is a local issue. Where I live there is a big public debate about adding it to our water. It looks like they won't.
According to an American physician who has tested the iodine levels of 5,000 people, 19 out of 20 of us are deficient in iodine.
Wrong. I'm in the restaurant business and none of the bulk salt that we use has iodine in it.
And there you have it! Because you purchase non-iodized salt no one else does either!
Since not the majority of people are likely passing through your resturant every day I'm afraid that this is but an anecdotal, from which no conclusions could be drawn if attempting to extraplote to any significant scale (though, one is good if one is shooting to meet the criteria for his or her own purposes and is actally doing so).
You consider that paranoia? If iodine is in everything as you think it is then is that due to someone elses paranoia as well? lol
I'm not paranoid about facts...they are what they are and I choose to do what I can to navigate around the land mines our freakishly evil government puts in our way.
Most table salt actually does not have iodine in it unless it's labeled as such...otherwise it does not have it, and the reason is the government took it out many years ago. It interferes with the fluoride they put in the water...that's just a plain fact.
Himalayan salts have a very good form of pure iodine in them, which are highly recommended for thyroid health. The junk we get at the grocery store is mostly unabsorbed by our systems and pissed out.
That it why I mentioned the nascent iodine in my post because it is atomized down to the purest molecular level and comes in a liquid form which is immediately absorbed into the blood stream and sent through our thyroid for maximum effectiveness. Maybe I should have mentioned it in my post, but now you have it.
Regardless though...I'm glad George Washington wrote about this. It's a subject that needs more awareness. The criminal and conspiratorial blackout that the media and governments have put on Fukushima is astonishing given the severly grave nature of this catastrophe, especially given the fact that this thing is not over by a long shot and has the potential for much more worse consequences for the entire world, not just the Pacific Ocean, North America or the Northern Hemisphere.
The fact that the media and government haven't done anything about it in over 2 years proves a conspiracy to ignore it. When there have been other disasters the world is all over it. The media hypes it up. People arrange fucking telethons begging for our money and support. The Red Cross and even military are used to help out and it's always a big F'ing deal, i.e. Haiti earthquake, Katrina or Sandy hurricanes (and many others in the past), also many other earthquakes in America or around the world. Everyone gets invovled to help clean up and raise money, etc.
Not Fukushima, and guess why? It's a massive nightmare of deadly radiation spewing into the ocean and the atmosphere, that's why. So the media and government have left Japan to fend for itself even though that's the worst thing that could be done because now it's dragged on for nearly 3 years and has only gotten worse while the Japanese government and TEPCO lie to the public about how deadly it is.
I understand nobody wants to go over there and work on the problem...I mean, it's freakin' deadly! But if that issue hasn't been already thought of in the last 50 years of nuclear energy and after the other bad nuclear accidents the world has experienced, and if people and agencies haven't trained for a situation like this then we're all seriously fucked folks.
I don't call that paranoia...the real fact of massive radiation spewing out of that place for decades to come that will kill millions of people and animals as well as destroy food supplies is not paranoia.
Yeah, I doubt our futile efforts to take iodine and potasium, etc. for very long will really be all that effective...but maybe also they will help to keep me from getting some nasty cancer too. I'll take my chances with using the supplements rather than being another sheep who does what the media and government tells me to do.
"Most table salt actually does not have iodine in it unless it's labeled as such"
Yup, that which doesn't have something is undoubtedly in the low volume category of having that thing!
Some interesting background about iodine in salt:
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/iodine-in-salt/
Hey, watch out for that water down there in Florida! That's some nasty stuff!
Nicely brought to light GW.
RDAs do not prevent basic diseases though, and the recommendations for magnesium (which, btw, is 100% necessary for the uptake of calcium and potassium, along with a plethora of other minerals and vitamins) are killing us.
Our food and medicines are depleting our bodies of iodine, potassium and magnesium, to name but a few things being stripped from us. Research "bromides" in commercial baking and see what is happening. Then go and research fluorides and see what they are doing to us. Not good, not good at all.
The knowledge of true nutrition has been replaced by the pseudo-sciences of corporation profit creators and all those consumer-friendly charts produced by gubment are proof that nearly no one cares to acknowledge.
Fukishima is but one more (not very subtle either) reminders that REAL health is NOT regulated, controlled, nor ever acknowledged by the US gubment or any of their protection departments. For freak's sake the USDA QUIT testing for radiation in the month (or two) following Fukishima. For our safety? Really?
The only positive thing I see coming out of the Obamacare (wonder how well radiation sicknesses will be covered), is that people might use the internet to go beyond corporate science and research true health.
I, and my children, use iodine all the time, take upwards of 400-800 mg of magnesium daily (plus topical as needed) and I actively search for ways to displace modern chemicals that are lodging in our bodies and killing us.
The scare tactics used by the medical industry against our needed nutrients are killing us. Radiation will just be faster than at the killing than the additives we think are safe.
Thanks again.
Hello TeresaE.
Whenever I mention fluorides and mixing fluorides with aluminum (see link below) to my 'friends' here on The Hedge I get a lot of flack. They claim, 'oh, they are harmless', etc, etc.
Funny how some countries, who don't want to poison their population, have very little Alzheimer's disease, and the good old #1 USA is basically culling the heard on purpose, imo, to keep GDP up.
So here is an article, published by our .gov, admitting to their poisoning the population. #1.
published in 1992 mind you,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1617567
and Aluminum-Abstinence Therapy
http://home.earthlink.net/~joannefstruve/_wsn/page2.html
Prozac,..95% sodium flouride.
Now do you wonder why it's in the water supply?
No proven effects against cavities.
Very interesting post---water supply--and Prozac. Sum abitch!!
Interesting how rwo or three words can come together and arrive at some unsavory thoughts.
Thanks for the post. Milestones
This article implies that I should need to know such information, but I am not sure why. Is the implication that serious amounts of radioactive material from Fukushima are headed my way? I'm not at all sure such a statement is true.
"Is the implication that serious amounts of radioactive material from Fukushima are headed my way?"
No, no need to worry about that. It's already here.
Don't you worry. Just sit tight and wait for George's next article entitled, "Your Child, Four Arms - Who Did This?"
Then you haven't been paying attention aerojet.
True, happening, not a damn thing we can do about it when the gubment refuses to acknowledge the real threats and help them fix it.
Be skeptical at your own (health) risk.
I'm sure aerojet would believe it if TeeVee was telling him about it...
Just like they should be telling him about the ACA being a boondoggle to get corporations more money and
Obama is just a tool of banks and corporations and hates poor people, especially, apparently, black people, and
The fed is setting us up to face perhaps the most ugly economic decline.
All stuff TeeVee sb telling us...instead we hear about that poor NFL millionaire getting harrassed by the awful other NFL millionaire. That's really important...ya know.
If you take calcium supplements daily you will suffer terrible constipation and end up almost literally sh!tting bricks. A little magnesium along with it will reduce the effect a little.
Magnesium is another example of something that was in the post originally, but I deleted because it was getting too long ...
Magnesium GLYCINATE for sore muscles and good sleeps.
Magnesium citrate if you're constipated or want to wake up in a pool of liquid poo.
Anyone familiar with chelation therapy and efficacy of radiation removal?
It apparently works for heavy metal poisoning.
Maybe they should offer a side of chelation therapy at the Russian Tea Room?
People should be very careful with this.
The techniques regarding iron, iodine etc. are protective measures against large-dose radioactive contamination where the negative effects of excess iodine, iron etc are outweighed by the negative effects of the radioactive contamination itself. It's supposed to protect against radiation sickness.
The problem with the contamination from Fukushima is that it's likely to be low-level and cumulative. It's unlikely that people on the US west coast will develop radiation sickness because the doses aren't high enough. More likely is a significant statistical rise in cancers and birth defects and an overall shortening of people's lives and there isn't much to be done to protect against that kind of low-level contamination.
If a pollen-sized particle of plutonium lodges in the lungs or the lining of the digestive tract, then no amount of iron supplements will make any difference. That's why this kind of contamination is so horrible. It's insidious.
The only sensible solution is not to produce nuclear waste, but it's a bit late for that now :(
The measures outlined in the article will be useful if there's a large contamination event but taking extra iodine/iron over a prolonged period can cause bigger problems than the problem presented by radioactive contamination.
Yes, DON’T Take Potassium Iodide Unless You Are Exposed to Radiation
It's hard not to make the article too long by adding every caveat ... but you're right, and I'll add it.
Move to Rio de janeiro. It's on the east coast in the southern hemisphere, and the babes are smokin.
Bad news. Rio de Janeiro is almost the exact antipode of Fukushima. Remember those reactor cores from FU1,2,3,&4 that seem to have just "disappeared"? The should be sprouting up off Rio any day now! China syndrome...
Actually the gravity yo-yo says they wil accelerate until they reach the earths core at which time they will sublimate into the liquid of the core, becoming one with the primeval radioactive soup still warming the earth.
Ever wonder why the deeper you dig, the hotter it gets? The core is molten and the crust is very thin relatively speaking, the magma between the crust and core is very deep and very hot.
A nuclear reactor cannot migrate through the earths core, its not hot enough or dense enough, its like some dry leaves on a bonfire.
Tudo bom amigo! Eu vou vê-lo lá!
Você diabo feliz!
Take the Blue Pill. You'll feel better.
Take several.why limit yourself?
Is Prussian Blue like the Maui Wowie smoked at 1600 Penn Ave?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Blue
You mean the pigment, right?
"Plutonium is a very heavy element, and so normally cannot travel too far."
Fukushima plutonium didn't travel very far, it only made it to Lithuania...
Holy cr@p, TWD! That's a long way (4,900 thousand miles, if Google is right).
Guess we should all get some iron, after all.
BTW ... do you think it could be radioactive Buckyballs (and here)?
Some of it might be, but the link above explains that the samples in Lithuania were taken in March and April of 2011. I, like many others following the ongoing Fukushima disaster, believe those first Pu nano-particles came to be as a result of multiple reactor explosions and were subsequently scattered (still are) by the jet stream throughout the entire northern hemisphere.
Edit: GW, the distance between Fukushima and Vilnius is more like 11 000 miles because of jet stream's natural trajectory in the N. Hemisphere (west to east, thus making N. America primary fallout filter for larger hot particles/ particles distributed through the lower atmosphere).
TWD, your second mind-blowing point of the day. I'm going to interview Arnie Gundersen about this ... do you have any diagram showing/estimating/mocking up the path or distance?
GW, sorry, but I'm no Ivy league economist aspiring for the Nobel prize, so no charts and diagrams with projections here. I use logic (I'm a terrrist), g00gle Earth, a globe and a pen. After all, it's data that anyone can check.
Good luck with old Arnie, but don't ask him about PlumeGate if you don't want to get disenchanted...
Thanks ...
Be aware that the RDA is the bare minimum daily requirement to prevent disease and is subject to heavy lobbying by various industries.
You're better off referring to the Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (UL).
Remember too that your body's requirements changes depending on environmental stressers. For example, a radioactive environment may result in a UL intake being insufficient, just like normal vitamin C dosage being insufficient when your body is fighting infection.
I find this advice troubling--tolerable uptake levels are not something I want to mess with. You're saying, "how much of this vitamin can I take before I cause damage to my liver." Also, with Vitamin C, a megadose does no good because after the maximum dosage, the rest is just waste product and excreted in urine. There is zero effect for fighting infection above the normal daily dose. I personally think Vitamin C is just the 'Gluten-free' of the 1970s.
"I find this advice troubling--tolerable uptake levels are not something I want to mess with. You're saying, "how much of this vitamin can I take before I cause damage to my liver." Also, with Vitamin C, a megadose does no good because after the maximum dosage, the rest is just waste product and excreted in urine. There is zero effect for fighting infection above the normal daily dose. I personally think Vitamin C is just the 'Gluten-free' of the 1970s"
You adjust your vitamin c intake to bowel tolerance level. Take a little more each day until you notice a laxative effect and then back off.
I normally take about 1 gram or 1/4 teaspoon of vitamin c powder per day but when fighting a lung infection I took 5 heaping teaspoons per day, about 50 grams. This is 200 times the RDA. It had no effect on my bathroom habits although I took this much every day for 2 months. At the end of that time I noticed an effect so I reduced my vitamin c intake slowly to 1 gram.
If you are fighting an infection, healing an injury or burn you can use up a lot of vitamin c. If you are stressed or exposed to pollution, if you smoke, you can also use up a lot of vitamin c,
The stuff is so cheap, completely non toxic and so necessary to life, that I don't know why anyone wouldn't take it.
but, but, but Linus Pauling said vitamin C helped! He had 2 Nobels!!! (note Nobels in Math and Physics.....not Medicine).
I once met a guy who was Paulings neighbor (Pauling was old this guy was a kid). He said Pauling was a joker and an imp. He said it would not surprise him if Pauling had made these statements just for fun and to stir up trouble. Anyway all the studies I've seen say vit C in high doses does....not much...
The entire 'supplement' industry (which I'm fine with as a libertarian who believes you should be able to do with your body what you wish) exists on no data ...cuz the budget is all spent on marketing.
Couple of things: The human gut can absorb a maximum of 10 grams a day of Vitamin C under ideal conditions, and even then the C is subject to the First Pass effect, which reduces the amount that actually gets into your system. I combine my C with Alpha Lipoic Acid (300 mg), which keeps C in the system longer and helps it penetrate cell walls.
The National Cancer Society underwrote two studies of Vitamin C and cancer in the early 1980s after Pauling made his pronouncements. Pauling and his associate (Scottish doctor, I forget the name) got their best results with intravenous megadose C, up to 100 grams a day, but the NCS studies only looked at ORAL Vitamin C and were immediately used to discredit all Pauling's work.
And there is considerable research outside the U.S. supporting C as part of a cancer treatment regime, including the Canadian Medical Association and a raft of double-blind studies in Europe. Even the U.S. National Institutes of Health have some good words for it.
pauling worked with abraham hoffer. hoffer was a shrink, md and had a phd in chemisty. he did the early studies on b vitamins and mental disorders. he also was fundamental in early vitamin c research. one patient had stage IV non-hodgkin's lymph for 15 years (yes!) that he battled with curcumin and vitamin c. he was given the death talk 5 times. for the first ten years he fought with vitamins and vitamin c alone, the last 5 years he discovered curcumin in it's early stages out of A & M and lasted another five years.
Perhaps under normal circumstances, Vitamin C megadoses have little utility. There hasn't been a lot of research on that. I currently take 10 grams of C a day orally and 50 grams intravenously twice a week as part of my (otherwise conventional) treatment of Stage IV esophageal cancer. Most of the cancer-Vitamin C scientific research has been done outside the U.S., and it's very encouraging. All I know is that I was Stage IV a year ago and being told to get my affairs in order. Today I've got two clean PET scans behind me and my hair is growing back. I'm already well beyond the median survival time.
Perhaps not coincidentally, there is now a bill before the Senate that would ban intravenous vitamin treatments. Written by Big Pharma, of course.
Outstanding CW! Prayers for you.
Full disclosure: I lost my Dad to colon cancer a few years ago.
All the best to you and heal yourself with the help of vitamin C.
That is awesome to hear, CW.
Were you a smoker or was this one of those things?