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Long term safety trials

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:30 am
by aariel
Have there been any placebo controlled, long term safety studies for high dose AA supplementation?

I'm not doubting the benefits of short-term (<2yrs), high dose AA supplementation,
I'm just curious what kind of proof we have about the long term safety of high dose AA supplementation.

Re: Long term safety trials

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 6:06 am
by ofonorow
Great question. Anecdotally, if you want to live past the age of 90, take megadoses of vitamin C. (Pauling did so from age 60 on.) Cathcart had 28,000 patients since the 1970s, and did not see a single case of kidney stones. Fred Klenner saw hundreds of patients getting 10 g of vitamin C, etc.

In Pauling's book, HTLLAFB, there is a chapter on the Low Toxicity of Vitamins, and I quote:


page 343 (paperback)

There is no known fatal dose of vitamin C. As much as 200 grams (g) has been taken by mouth over a period of a few hours without harmful effects. Between 100 and 150 g of sodium ascorbate has been given by intravenous infusion without harm.

There is little evience of long-term toxicity. I know of a man who has taken over 400 kilogams (kg) of this vitamin during the last nine years. He is a chemist, working in California. When he developed metastatic cancer, he found that he could control his pain by taking 130 g of vitamin C per day, and he has taken this amount, over a quarter of a pound per day, for nine years. Except that he has not succeeded in ridding himself completely of his cancer, his health is reasonable good, with no indication of harmful side effects of the vitamin.


The following chapter discusses the literature review of high doses of vitamin C, and Pauling addresses every concern mentioned in the research, such as it is.

Bottom line seems to be that vitamin C is safer in high doses than water in high doses.

Re: Long term safety trials

Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:29 am
by aariel
While all that is fascinating, it doesn't provide the type of scientific certainty that a long term, randomized, placebo controlled study would.

Has there been any efforts to try and organize such a trial?

I would think that in countries like Canada and in Europe where the cost of health care is funded by tax dollars that they would want to reduce costs as much as possible. I suspect that a trial like this would find numerous cost reductions in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and probably many other things as well.

Re: Long term safety trials

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 3:39 am
by ofonorow
aariel wrote:While all that is fascinating, it doesn't provide the type of scientific certainty that a long term, randomized, placebo controlled study would.

Has there been any efforts to try and organize such a trial?

I would think that in countries like Canada and in Europe where the cost of health care is funded by tax dollars that they would want to reduce costs as much as possible. I suspect that a trial like this would find numerous cost reductions in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and probably many other things as well.


Yes, a sane person would think so. If you have any way to get any body (person, government, foundation,etc.) to fund such a "long-term" study, we'll actively support you. With current economics, it will never happen. (Of course, one reason nobody would pay for such a trial is that vitamin C has been found to be entirely safe since the discovery of its chemical composition and synthesis in the 1930s.)

As an aside, the Foundation is trying to get a cabinet full of early (aprox. 700) vitamin C studies that Irwin Stone saved, and his estate gave to Mr. Falconi (Wholesale Nutrition). We want to scan them and put them online because you cannot find these studies online today. Falconi no longer participates in Wholesale Nutrition, and although we have communicated several times, after an initial response that the owner would speak with Mr. Falconi, there has been no response after that. So if anyone can help, it would be appreciated. Certainly the type of studies being request here were done in the 1930s.