This post is designed to help individuals taking the following courses: ENG 101, ENG 102, COM 155, COM 156, COM 220, and COM 122. Don’t struggle on the Homework Mountain!
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| The Tree of Knowledge grows on the Homework Mountain. |
Who doesn’t think about their health and wellness at some point? Most people have concerns about their health but never truly develop an understanding of what makes them healthy. There are numerous facets to this subject which can be researched for personal as well as academic use that it is impossible to list them all. Some of the more common health and wellness subjects include:
• Diets
• Weight loss
• Beauty
• Healthy Foods
• Nutrients
• Exercise and Fitness
The list goes on but I believe that this is a great place to start when researching because of the usefulness of the information that will be gained. If you want to lose weight or if you have been trying for some time then perhaps you should choose a research topic on diets. In my case, I was having some health issues ranging from allergies to constant illnesses. I decided to research vitamin C because I heard that it could cure many ailments. My research for school led me to one of the most life altering changes as I learned to use vitamin C to improve my health.
Why should you study vitamin C?
I call it a conspiracy but I am not sure if it is really a conspiracy or if it is just pervasive stupidity. The use of vitamin C has long been controversial despite its obvious benefits and lack of negative impacts. The medical establishment continues to recommend extremely low dosages of vitamin C and refuses to acknowledge the benefits of far greater quantities. Now, when I am discussing far greater quantities of vitamin C, I am not talking about taking slightly above the Recommended Daily Intake of about 100 mg per day. I am talking about taking much higher dosages such as 5 grams and up. It is at these high dosages that one begins to feel the positive effects of vitamin C.
How does vitamin C work?
To be quite honest, I am not sure that researchers truly understand the full purpose of vitamin C in the human body. But not fully understanding something does not mean that we cannot use it or that it is not beneficial. According to the NIH (2012), the functions and benefits of vitamin C include:
1. Vitamin C is needed for the growth and repair of tissues in all parts of your body. It is used to:At this juncture, I am on board with most experts, however, when discussing the true benefits of vitamin C and appropriate dosage, the experts and I tend to diverge in thought. For example, the RDI for a woman that is 19 years or older is 75 mg per day (NIH, 2012). While this amount might be enough to ward off the more terrible symptoms of scurvy, is this really the optimum level of vitamin C necessary for health? I ask this question because there seems to be some form of logical problem with this situation. Let’s look at animals and their vitamin C production.
-Form an important protein used to make skin, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels
-Heal wounds and form scar tissue
-Repair and maintain cartilage, bones, and teeth
2. Vitamin C is one of many antioxidants. Antioxidants are nutrients that block some of the damage caused by free radicals.
-Free radicals are made when your body breaks down food or when you are exposed to tobacco smoke or radiation.
-The buildup of free radicals over time is largely responsible for the aging process.
-Free radicals may play a role in cancer, heart disease, and conditions like arthritis.
(NIH, 2012)
Most animals make the human body-weight equivalent of 5,000 to 10,000 milligrams a day. It is unlikely that animals would have evolved to make this much vitamin C if they did not need it and use it. Indeed, cells in many human body tissues concentrate vitamin C by 25-fold or more over blood concentration (Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, 2009).There is some obvious problem here when a goat of equal body weight is making 5,000 to 10,000 milligrams a day of vitamin C and we are being told that we only need 75 mg. In fact, humans are one of a few animals on this planet that has lost the ability to make their own vitamin C. Yet, somehow we need less of this nutrient than every other species. But the biggest proof is not in the numbers but in how you feel. The NIH (2012) reports
Serious side effects from too much vitamin C are very rare, because the body cannot store the vitamin. However, amounts greater than 2,000 mg/day are not recommended because such high doses can lead to stomach upset and diarrhea.If this is the worst affect that vitamin C can have then does it not seem to be prudent to try it and get some of the benefits? I personally take about 8000 mg or 8 grams per day. When I first started taking vitamin C in large doses I was taking as high as 15 grams a day before having stomach and bowel issues. So what happened at that high dose?
My hair became smoother
My skin cleared up (from acne)
Old sports injuries began to heal
I never get sick like I use to (I have not had a cold that lasted for more than a few hours)
Increased energy
Healthier teeth and gums (I don’t get cavities anymore)
Allergies to pollen no longer bother me
As you can see the benefits of taking vitamin C at high dosages have been life altering. While it is anecdotal, I believe it is noteworthy to mention that everyone I know that takes vitamin C at these high levels experiences the same benefits to greater or lesser degrees. Interestingly enough those who stop using it regret it because their bodies immediately begin feeling all of the old pains and health issues.
Nothing will prove to you the benefits of vitamin C like using it yourself. I often say that it is either conspiracy or widespread stupidity, but in truth it is misunderstanding and lack of knowledge which keeps many people from attaining optimum health. As humans, we tend to resist things that are foreign or out of the ordinary. For most people, the idea of taking 10 to 20 vitamin C pills per day might seem strange, especially when we consider that the pill bottle label is telling us to only take 1 pill a day. However, seeing and feeling is believing and I recommend you try vitamin C for yourself before being judgmental. No person has ever died from too much vitamin C.
It is easy to see how researching vitamin C has been both useful and fulfilled academic requirements. As an academic topic vitamin C is a great place to start researching because there is an abundance of information available as well as the fact that most people are vitamin C deficient. Here are some vitamin C research sources that are very informative and can help you better understand this nutrient and mystery surrounding it.
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminC/
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/pauling-and-vitamin-c.html
http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/
References
NIH. (2012). Vitamin c. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002404.htm
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service. (2009, December 3). Vitamin c as an antiviral: It's all about dose. Retrieved from http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n09.shtml
