Vitamin C Immune Booster

​There’s a reason that Vitamin C seems to be recommended and advertised almost everywhere you look in the health community. It’s one of the most vital components of health and well-being. Incorporating a proper amount into your diet can strengthen your immune system, assist the body in burning excess fat and has even been shown to have a correlation in lowering the risk of heart disease.   A proper dietary intake has also been shown to help repair damaged hair and minimize wrinkles and dryness in the skin. It even aids the body in strenuous tasks such as pregnancy or from surgery. These individual perks come together and have a positive effect on your overall mood and they improve your stamina and capability throughout the day.   While consuming fruits and vegetables is an easy way to consume an optimal amount of Vitamin C. The intravenous route allows much higher doses to be administered, bypassing the GI tract and allowing up to 100% absorption. This more efficient method is the recommended option in situations when the immune system needs a little extra help.
Possible Signs of Vitamin C deficiency
  • Fatigue
  • Poor immune system
  • Dry, damaged skin
  • Aching or weakness in muscle or joints
  • Bleeding gums
  • Unprovoked weight gain
  • Irritated skin
Conditions Regularly Treated:
  • Cancer Recovery
  • Fighting Cold & Flu
  •  Offering Relief during Allergy Season
  • Chronic Liver Disease
  • Lessens pain after injuries
  • Helps the body heal faster
  • Improves energy levels/fatigue
  • Resiliency to infections like colds/flu or other viral/bacterial infections
Fighting Cold and Flu: Vitamin C provides a powerful boost to your immune system, which helps protect from the threat of cold and flu. However, in situations when it’s too late and the virus has already kicked in, the body becomes so preoccupied with fighting it that Vitamin C levels can fall significantly. Under this circumstance, IV treatment will give patients a massive boost with a quick reaction, assisting the body on the road to a faster recovery. 

Attacking Allergy Season:  Dreaded allergy symptoms are often the main thing that stands in the way of enjoying the beautiful Spring season. A proper dosage of Vitamin C helps stabilize the immune system by neutralizing the extreme reaction that the body has to histamines. It also serves as a natural, non-toxic alternative, free of side effects that other antihistamine medication may come with.

Cancer Treatment Studies have shown that Vitamin C therapy may be effective in treating certain types of cancer. At very high doses vitamin C can generate peroxide (H202) which may be toxic to cancer cells. Doctors have suggested that IV treatment is necessary in this circumstance because oral supplements do not contain enough Vitamin C for the approach to be effective. Only about  18% of the vitamin C we consume is absorbed by our bodies.  In cancer patients, IVC is known to improve the response to cancer therapies because it alleviates the effects of traditional therapies, improves appetite and helps patients remain more active.
Many of the cancer patients seen at RoseBay Medi Spa suffer from fatigue, nausea, and vomiting from radiation and chemotherapy.  Vitamin C along with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants can help prevent the above and also boost the immune system, help with mood elevation and energy. 
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Clinical Research:
Ewan Cameron and Linus Pauling. The Orthomolecular Treatment of Cancer I: The role of ascorbic acid in host resistance. Chemico-Biological Interactions. Volume 9, Issue 4, October 1974, Pages 273-283.
Sebastian J. Padayatty, Hugh D. Riordan, Stephen M. Hewitt, Arie Katz, L. John Hoffer and Mark Levine. Intravenously Administered Vitamin C as Cancer Therapy: Three cases. Research. Volume 174, Issue 7, March 28, 2006, Pages 937-942.
Qi Chen, Michael Graham Espey, Murali C. Krishna, James B. Mitchell, Christopher P. Corpe, Garry R. Buettner, Emily Shacter, and Mark Levine. Pharmacologic Ascorbic Acid Concentrations Selectively Kill Cancer Cells: Action as a pro-drug to deliver hydrogen peroxide to tissues. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume 102, Issue 38, September 20, 2005, Pages 13604–13609.
Qi Chen, Michael Graham Espey, Andrew Y. Sun, Je-Hyuk Lee, Murali C. Krishna, Emily Shacter, Peter L. Choyke, Chaya Pooput, Kenneth L. Kirk, Garry R. Buettner, and Mark Levine. Ascorbate in pharmacologic concentrations selectively generates ascorbate radical and hydrogen peroxide in extracellular fluid in vivo. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume 104, Issue 21, May 22, 2007, Pages 8749–8754.
Qi Chen, Michael Graham Espey, Andrew Y. Sun, Chaya Pooput, Kenneth L. Kirk, Murali C. Krishna, Deena Beneda Khosh, Jeanne Drisko, and Mark Levine. Pharmacologic doses of ascorbate act as a prooxidant and decrease growth of aggressive tumor xenografts in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume 105, Issue 32, August 12, 2008, Pages 11105–11109.
Anderson P., Nadis E., Standish L. (2011, November). High Dose IV Ascorbic Acid Therapy: the Bastyr Experience. Poster session presented at the Society for Integrative Oncology, Cleveland, OH.
Yeom CH Jung GC, Song KJ. Changes of terminal cancer patients' health-related quality of life after high dose vitamin C administration. J Korean Med Sci. 2007 Feb;22(1):7-11.
Vollbracht C, et. al. Intravenous vitamin C administration improves quality of life in breast cancer patients during chemo-/radiotherapy and aftercare: results of a retrospective, multicentre, epidemiological cohort study in Germany. In Vivo. 2011 Nov-Dec;25(6):983-90.
Vojdani, A. Namatella, G. Enhancement of Human Natural Killer Cytotoxic Activity by Vitamin C in Pure and Augmented Formulations. Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine. Vol. 7, No. 3 , Pages 187-196. 1997. DOI:10.1080/13590849762600
Lutsenko, E A, Carcamo J M, Golde DW. Vitamin C Prevents Gene Mutation Induced by Oxidative Stress. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 277(19), May10,2002. DOI 10.1074/jbc.M201151200 / available online at http://www.jbc.org
Fromberg, A, et.al. Ascorbate Exerts anti-proliferative effects through cell cycle inhibition and sensitizes tumor cells towards cytostatic drugs. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol, 67:1157-1166, 2011. DOI 10.1007/s00280-010-1418-6 (Springer online).
Chen P, Stone J, Sullivan G, Drisko JA, Chen Q. Anti-cancer effect of pharmacologic ascorbate and its interaction with supplementary parenteral glutathione in preclinical cancer models. Free Radic Biol Med. 2011 May 30. PMID: 21672627
Gonzalez, MJ, et.al. Orthomolecular Oncology Review: Ascorbic Acid and Cancer 25 Years Later. Integrative Cancer Therapies 4[1]; 2005 32-44 DOI: 10.1177/1534735404273861
Ma, Y. et. al. (2011, November). Vitamin C and Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review. Moderated Abstract [49] presented at the Society for Integrative Oncology, Cleveland, OH.