— 1935 —

“...ascorbic acid has exceptional desensitizing properties, and ... this drug is able... to profoundly modify the clinical evolution of erythrodermy, and to entirely transform the prognosis.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: One of the earliest studies of the use of ascorbate under the drug paradim, this showed that ascorbate was capable of greatly improving the organism’s ability to withstand the toxic assault of the then-standard treatments for syphilis.

From today’s perspective it may be difficult to fathom the use of sublethal doses of heavy-metal poisons (arsenic, bismuth, gold, mercury, and silver compounds), which were mostly ineffective and which, demonstrated in this study, imposed a heavy burden of side-effects on patients. But the parallels between the AIDS and syphilis pandemics are close enough to help one understand the desperate measures taken to try to effect a cure.]

— 1936 —

“...The preceding observations highlight the rapid — immediate, one can say — action of vitamin C on herpes and shingles.

“The administration of this vitamin makes it possible to stop and cure even intense outbreaks of herpes in the space of 2-3 days. It notably shortens the duration of a sometimes painful, always awkward, affliction, the evolutionary cycle of which usually progresses over 8 to 15 days...

“The administration of vitamin C in shingles, the more effective the earlier it is done, profoundly modifies the clinical evolution of this affliction.
[Vitamin C] acts not only on its cutaneous manifestations (erythema and blisters), which disappear with an unexpected rapidity, but also on the painful phenomena which generally accompany it.

“The results obtained enable us henceforth to regard vitamin C as the drug of choice for these afflictions.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: Both oral and injectible ascorbate were used in this clinical work. Injections of only modest amounts, 100 mg or less, were given, but with remarkable results nonetheless. Even oral doses, 5 centigrams per tablet (50 mg — less even than the current pathetic US RDA for dietary ascorbate), produced unexpectedly rapid recovery from outbreaks.

Predictably, given the almost certain insufficient daily dietary ascorbate intake, and the low treatment doses employed, the author could not conclusively demonstrate ascorbate’s utility in preventing the recurrence of outbreaks. Using too-low doses by mistake (dare one imagine by intent?) is the common thread running through practically all subsequent negative studies that “prove” ascorbate’s lack of efficacy.

Nevertheless, why then is ascorbate still not the initial, standard treatment for herpes and shingles outbreaks, over 70 years after its effectiveness was clinically demonstrated?]

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“...in 66 [of 81] cases... [we saw] reduction of lip cyanosis in coughing attacks...[disappearance of] attacks with breathing difficulty, vomiting and recurrence ... also the number of cough attacks diminished. Patients became lively, had good appetite and the convalescence progressed very satisfactorily.

“Of special mention were 3 serious cases of pertussis pneumonia in artificially nourished babies, for which previous treatment methods, vaccine treatments etc., are rarely successful, and which were deemed as having lethal outcome. Through our therapy, the children were clearly improved after 2—3 weeks and finally healed.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: This is one of the most-cited early studies of ascorbate injections as a curative treatment. Even using very modest doses sparingly administered (the Drug Paradigm), remarkable improvements over the usual course of the illness were obtained. Omitted however was further discussion about the gravely ill “artificially nourished” infants, such as how their “formula” was so deficient in ascorbate and other nutrients that this was probably why they were at death’s door in the first place.

As a side note, in Western Europe a common baby formula recipe of the day was: cow’s milk, cod-liver oil, corn syrup and lactic acid. That this concoction would be all but devoid of ascorbate — unlike fresh human breast milk from a well-nourished mother — goes without saying. Even fresh bovine milk is relatively deficient in ascorbate.]

— 1937 —

“Ascorbic acid definitely shortens the paroxysmal stage of the disease, particularly if relatively large doses are used early in the disease.”

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“Saturation of whooping cough patients with ascorbic acid decreases markedly the intensity, number and duration of the characteristic symptoms.”

— 1938 —

“...the patients, after the 3rd or 4th injection of [vitamin C]... unanimously reported experiencing increased good appetite and physical well-being. With a single exception, weight was gained throughout...with [sufficient] vitamin C, an [unfavorable] prognosis can be improved more rapidly.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: This article is interesting in that treatment with then-expensive ascorbate was used only as a means to improve the patient’s general status, not addressing the tuberculosis itself. The primary treatment protocol for this disease seems to have been bed rest and the injection of gas into the patient’s chest cavity (artificial pneumothorax), thereby compressing regions of the tubercular lung to apparent therapeutic benefit. The discomfort of such a procedure, and the disease toxins flushed into the bloodstream thereby, no doubt placed considerable stress on the already weakened patient, increasing the ascorbate consumption markedly.

Considering the relatively miniscule doses employed — 100 mg injections — and stubborn adherence to the flawed notion of body “saturation” with ascorbate, it is remarkable that they obtained any positive results at all. It was probably another case of subscorbutic patients receiving just enough ascorbate to keep them from near death. Indeed, the author was puzzled at one patient whose body refused to become “saturated” with ascorbate. These days, understanding of and responding to such biochemical individuality in stress response and nutrient demand is gaining acceptance even in mainstream medicine.]

—

“In this small series of twenty-six cases of whooping cough, cevitamic acid [ascorbic acid] seemed to be strikingly effective in relieving and checking the symptoms in all but two of the cases .... It is our opinion that it should be given further trial in all cases of whooping cough regardless of the age of the patient, or the length of time already elapsed since the original symptoms.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: In 1998 there was a pertussis (whooping cough) epidemic in parts of Europe, with significant mortality. In 1999 there were numerous outbreaks of pertussis in the western United States. Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S., concerned about the perceived side-effects and dubious effectiveness of vaccines, have chosen not to immunize their children against pertussis and other so-called childhood “killer” diseases.  Unfortunately, orthodox medicine has ignored ascorbate’s demonstrated value as a powerful and “strikingly” effective treatment for pertussis.]

— 1939 —

“Administration of 100 mg. of vitamin C daily to each of 34 workmen exposed to factory lead hazards (and diagnosed as suffering from lead absorption) in general decidedly improved their blood picture and their health. Symptoms characteristic of chronic lead absorption usually disappeared.”

[AscorbateWeb Editorial: Considering the rather small doses of ascorbate — 100-200 mg daily — the beneficial effects noted here are probably mostly the result of simply correcting the subclinical scurvy of the workers, although a direct effect on lead-calcium-ascorbate chemistry is hypothesized as well. Workers who ate a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables fared much better under chronic lead exposure than others with a poorer diet.]

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