In an e-Alert I sent you two weeks ago (“Multi-Talented” 4/23/03), HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., explained how the low amounts of vitamin C found in most multi-vitamins should be considered only the start of the supplementation of this very important nutrient. As Dr. Spreen pointed out in that e-Alert: “The amount of vitamin C in a supplement is far less than I’d want a person to takeI nearly always start with a minimum of 1000 milligrams 2x/day.”
Two members followed up on Dr. Spreen’s comments with questions whose answers demonstrate the vital importance of vitamin C, as well as its relationship to other supplements.
As longtime e-Alert readers are aware, Dr. Spreen is an outspoken advocate of dietary supplements (and of vitamins C and E in particular), and he had this to say about balancing the tw
“I recommend such high doses of each that it would not be easy (or work as well) to take them separately during the day and still take them with food. Taking 3000 milligrams of vitamin C at one time is nowhere near as potent as taking 1000 milligrams 3 separate times. In fact, I’m against taking vitamin C less than twice/day, as it is utilized so quickly that there may be none of the original dose left in the bloodstream long before the next dose arrives if you wait 24 hours.
“Since most nutrients in nature occur together I’m also not quite ready to believe that there’s that much destruction of one or the other when taken together. There are exceptions, such as amino acids taken with other proteins, but as a rule I give all nutrients together (as would occur in nature) as much as possible, and so that they may be taken with food. Supplements alone don’t do much. Besides, it’s usually less an issue of ‘destruction’ as it is ‘enhanced need,’ which implies to me that all may be more effectively utilized when introduced together.
“As I’ve never separated the administration of those two nutrients, and since my own clinical results show improvement over why the subject came to me for advice in the first place, I have to conclude that such use of nutrient supplements tend to be beneficial given in such a manner.”
“I have been told by my nutritionist that too much vitamin C will prevent or hinder the absorption of copper and therefore cause problems in some people. Can you tell me how I might be sure to get plenty of both? I am diabetic and need to be sure everything is balanced.”
Dr. Spreen, acknowledges that large amounts of one nutrient (especially the B-vitamins) can cause a deficiency in others. He points out that the primary problem, “boils down to ‘biochemical individuality,’ a term coined by a Nobel prize-winner, and highly significant in its implications.
“The difficulty is to figure out just what the base needs are for each individual, and that’s extremely difficult. In the case of the B-complex, for example, an ‘average’ person might need (say) 20 milligrams of B-1, 10 of B-2, 15 of B-6, and more is just wasted (theoretically). The trick is knowing about the 20, 10, and 15 milligrams respectively. A non-‘average’ person (i.e., a true human individual) may have an enzyme defect that requires 200 milligrams of B-1 to absorb the 20 milligrams that Mr. ‘Average’ needs. There are some cases that are easier to figure out than others, such as schizophrenia, where it’s probable that vitamin B-3 levels would need to be greatly enhanced to reach ‘normal’ (maybe even thousands of milligrams).
“For such reasons I try to give the body (assuming I don’t have any idea of a person’s personal chemical individuality) as much a possible so that the body may have an easier time selecting the doses it needs for itself. Since most nutrients have very wide margins of safety, I’m pretty comfortable giving such amounts and letting the body decide. (There are exceptions, so see your health care practitioner.)”
“It does seem that vitamin C in high doses requires the use of the mineral nutrient copper. My solution is to try to have all players on the field so the body can play the nutrient game as a team. Therefore, when 3000 milligrams of vitamin C are given daily, I’d normally throw in 2 milligrams of copper. But then, with the copper I’d also toss in 30 milligrams of zinc, because high copper antagonizes zinc (and vice versa). This relationship is also true of calcium/vitamin D, arginine/lysine, essential fatty acids/vitamin E, and most likely tons of others.
“Because I believe we are, as a general rule, better off with too much rather than too little (in the way of nutrients anyway), I attempt to tailor a person’s regimen to their history with enough of each nutrient to somewhat ‘overshoot’ the ‘norm’ for that person. Since we can never figure out each personal nutrient need down to the milligram, that’s my attempt to obtain that nebulous quantity I call ‘optimal health.'”
As Dr. Spreen makes clear, while the aim with dosage may be to “overshoot,” keeping the many variables of good nutrition balanced is just as important.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
Sources:
“European ‘Smart Drug’ Now a Dietary Supplement” William Faloon, Life Extension Magazine, 12/98, lef.org
