Re: Vitamin C levels associated with stone formation in women

Hi Paul!

I hear you on that.

I stopped taking abscorbic acid years ago.

What I am doing now is reporting on a possible practical application of vitamin C to reduce, at least in women, the creation of new stones. The studies I've reported above are flawed because they only used ascorbic acid. I hope to improve on that.

What I take now is far from perfect, but I hope it's a step in the right direction.

The vitamin C complex that I take has vitamin C in mineral ascorbate forms - calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese, and potassium ascorbates. I hope that the addition of these electrolytes will not only buffer and aid in the absorption of the ascorbate but also help supply electrolytes which I might not otherwise consume. I realize that this complex is heavily processed and thus not ideal. This vitamin C also has co-factors: Citrus bioflavonoids, rutin, and hesperidin. Absorption is supposed to be aided by a food base containing rose hips, bee pollen, and sea weed.

To increase the levels of co-factors, I take additional citrus bioflavonoid caps (hesperidin, eriocitrin, navingen, navingenol, flavanols, flavones, and rutin). It's hard to read the tiny label, so there might be spelling errors here. I try to increase the amount of co-factors to close to a 1:1 ratio with the actual amount of vitamin C.

Vitamin C needs vitamin B as a co-factor, so I take coenzyme B-complex caps. It's not just any vitamin B, but a particular one, but I forget which vitamin B. The additional vitamin Bs will help supplement a sometimes inadequate diet.

I eat a lot of fish to include healthy oils and selenium to support these complexes. Iodine, chlorella, and sea weed also help support the absorption of this vitamin C complex.

I hope that I have included enough co-factors that I can reduce the actual amounts of vitamin C that I take in this artificial form. I've been experimenting (off and on) for years. I haven't found the solution yet, but I think I've found a better way for now.

I haven't seriously looked into all the co-factors of vitamin C, as the last time I looked, it led to an increasing range of other co-factors which became overwhelming. I do not have a strong grasp of the pros and cons of taking vitamin C in any processed form, and believe that it would be best to take it straight from Mother Nature in its natural forms.

However, I found that taking high doses of vitamin C (as described above) helped significantly with a variety of problems which I had not even anticipated. For example, tingling and fading sensation in the finger tips and tiny red veins appearing in my legs were two problems that disappeared with high doses of vitamin C and reappeared when I reduced the vitamin C.

I'm hoping that someone with a much greater understanding of vitamin C therapy will respond with more suggestions.

However, I agree with you whole-heartedly: Ascorbic acid alone is not the solution. If I could find a way to take relatively high levels of vitamin C that I want to in natural form, realizing that in a properly supported natural form the levels of vitamin C would not need to be nearly as high to have benefit, inexpensively, then I would definitely do that!

I will look into JessesMom's recommendation here, and keep your comments in mind.

Any ideas?

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