Vitamin C for COVID-19
6th treatment shown to reduce risk in
September 2020, now with p = 0.00000002 from 75 studies, recognized in 22 countries.
No treatment is 100% effective. Protocols
combine treatments.
6,300+ studies for
210+ treatments. c19early.org
|
Review of the use of vitamin C for infections and the potential benefit for COVID-19.
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Hemilä et al., Rebound effect explains the divergence in survival after 5 days in a controlled trial on vitamin C for COVID-19 patients, Frontiers in Medicine, doi:10.3389/fmed.2024.1391346.
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Schloss et al., Nutritional deficiencies that may predispose to long COVID, Inflammopharmacology, doi:10.1007/s10787-023-01183-3.
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Yamasaki et al., Pleiotropic Functions of Nitric Oxide Produced by Ascorbate for the Prevention and Mitigation of COVID-19: A Revaluation of Pauling’s Vitamin C Therapy, Microorganisms, doi:10.3390/microorganisms11020397.
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Arora et al., Global Dietary and Herbal Supplement Use during COVID-19—A Scoping Review, Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu15030771.
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Hemilä (B) et al., Bias against Vitamin C in Mainstream Medicine: Examples from Trials of Vitamin C for Infections, Life, doi:10.3390/life12010062.
13.
May et al., Therapeutic potential of megadose vitamin C to reverse organ dysfunction in sepsis and COVID-19, British Journal of Pharmacology, doi:10.1111/bph.15579.
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Hemilä et al., 18 Jan 2021, peer-reviewed, 2 authors.
Vitamin C and COVID-19
Frontiers in Medicine, doi:10.3389/fmed.2020.559811
In numerous animal studies, vitamin C has prevented and alleviated viral and bacterial infections. In a few dozen placebo-controlled trials with humans, vitamin C has shortened infections caused by respiratory viruses, which indicates that the vitamin can also influence viral infections in humans. In critically ill patients, plasma vitamin C levels are commonly very low. Gram doses of vitamin C are needed to increase the plasma vitamin C levels of critically ill patients to the levels of ordinary healthy people. A meta-analysis of 12 trials with 1,766 patients calculated that vitamin C reduced the length of ICU stay on average by 8%. Another meta-analysis found that vitamin C shortened the duration of mechanical ventilation in ICU patients. Two randomized placebo-controlled trials found statistically significant reduction in the mortality of sepsis patients. The effects of vitamin C on acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) frequently complicating COVID-19 pneumonia should be considered. Vitamin C is a safe and inexpensive essential nutrient.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS HH and AM participated in the revision of the manuscript.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
References
Arvinte, Singh, Marik, Serum levels of vitamin C and vitamin D in a cohort of critically ill COVID-19 patients of a north American community hospital intensive care unit in may 2020. A pilot study, Med Drug Discov, doi:10.1016/j.medidd.2020.100064
Atherton, Kratzing, Fisher, The effect of ascorbic acid on infection of chick-embryo ciliated tracheal organ cultures by coronavirus, Arch Virol, doi:10.1007/bf01317848
Carr, Maggini, Vitamin C and immune function, Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu9111211
Carr, Rosengrave, Bayer, Chambers, Mehrtens et al., Hypovitaminosis C and vitamin C deficiency in critically ill patients despite recommended enteral and parenteral intakes, Crit Care, doi:10.1186/s13054-017-1891-y
Carr, Rowe, The emerging role of vitamin C in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu12113286
Cerullo, Negro, Parimbelli, Pecoraro, Perna et al., The long history of vitamin C: from prevention of the common cold to potential aid in the treatment of COVID-19, Front Immunol, doi:10.3389/fimmu.2020.574029
Chiscano-Camón, Ruiz-Rodriguez, Ruiz-Sanmartin, Roca, Ferrer, Vitamin C levels in patients with SARS-CoV-2-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome, Crit Care, doi:10.1186/s13054-020-03249-y
Davelaar, Bos, Ascorbic acid and infectious bronchitis infections in broilers, Avian Pathol, doi:10.1080/03079459208418879
Feyaerts, Luyten, Vitamin C as prophylaxis and adjunctive medical treatment for COVID-19?, Nutrition, doi:10.1016/j.nut.2020.110948
Fisher, Kraskauskas, Martin, Farkas, Wegelin et al., Mechanisms of attenuation of abdominal sepsis induced acute lung injury by ascorbic acid, Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol, doi:10.1152/ajplung.00300.2011
Fisher, Seropian, Kraskauskas, Thakkar, Voelkel et al., Ascorbic acid attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury, Crit Care Med, doi:10.1097/CCM.0b013e3182120cb8
Fowler, Iii, Truwit, Hite, Morris et al., Effect of vitamin C infusion on organ failure and biomarkers of inflammation and vascular injury in patients with sepsis and severe acute respiratory failure: the CITRIS-ALI randomized clinical trial, JAMA, doi:10.1001/jama.2019.11825
Grooth, Manubulu-Choo, Zandvliet, Spoelstra-De Man, Girbes et al., Vitamin C pharmacokinetics in critically ill patients: a randomized trial of four iv regimens, Chest, doi:10.1016/j.chest.2018.02.025
Hemilä, Chalker, Reanalysis of the effect of vitamin C on mortality in the CITRIS-ALI trial: important findings dismissed in the trial report, Front Med, doi:10.3389/fmed.2020.590853
Hemilä, Chalker, Vitamin C can shorten the length of stay in the ICU: a meta-analysis, Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu11040708
Hemilä, Chalker, Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold, Cochrane Database Syst Rev, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000980.pub4
Hemilä, Chalker, Vitamin C may reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients: a meta-regression analysis, J Intensive Care, doi:10.1186/s40560-020-0432-y
Hemilä, Do Vitamins C and E Affect Respiratory Infections?
Hemilä, Louhiala, Vitamin C for preventing and treating pneumonia, Cochrane Database Syst Rev, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD005532.pub3
Hemilä, Louhiala, Vitamin C may affect lung infections, J R Soc Med, doi:10.1177/014107680710001109
Hemilä, Vitamin C and infections, Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu9040339
Levine, Conry-Cantilena, Wang, Welch, Washko et al., Vitamin C pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers: evidence for a recommended dietary allowance, Proc Natl Acad Sci, doi:10.1073/pnas.93.8.3704
Li, Maeda, Beck, Vitamin C deficiency increases the lung pathology of influenza virus-infected gulo-/-mice, J Nutr, doi:10.1093/jn/136.10.2611
Manning, Mitchell, Appadurai, Shakya, Pierce et al., Vitamin C promotes maturation of T-cells, Antioxid. Redox Signal, doi:10.1089/ars.2012.4988
Marik, Payen, CITRIS-ALI: how statistics were used to obfuscate the true findings, Anaesth Crit Care Pain Med, doi:10.1016/j.accpm.2019.10.004
Spoelstra-De Man, Elbers, Oudemans-Van Straaten, Vitamin C: should we supplement?, Curr Opin Crit Care, doi:10.1097/MCC.0000000000000510
Zabet, Mohammadi, Ramezani, Khalili, Effect of high-dose ascorbic acid on vasopressor's requirement in septic shock, J Res Pharm Pract, doi:10.4103/2279-042X.179569
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