Post
by gofanu » Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:57 am
I suggest that everyone remember that bowel tolerance is not a goal, but a limit. It is the amount of (ascorbate) that can be absorbed without causing loss of the ascorbate itself, plus anything else that may be carried off with it. That is chiefly water, all electrolytes, and any nutritionally valuable components that might be resident in the large intestine.
The observed fact that ascorbate to BT "cures" many conditions is indicative of the situation that ascorbate status, or the status of other things (antioxidants, glutathione, iodine, etc) ascorbate function can overlap, is rate limiting so far as a "healthy condition" is concerned.
We appear to have reasonable evidence that the ascorbate requirement for healthy non stressed adults is more than 5gm/day, and probably more than 10gm/day in our world. We also seem to have good experience that suggests a healthy person has a BT well in excess of their requirement, say 10-20gm/day. Unhealthy folk can be much higher, per Cathcart and others.
So, anyone who cannot attain BT in excess of their requirement likely has some other rate limiting problem; now we are talking about the rate of ascorbate absorption. This does not mean that BT is sufficient to meet needs, only that it is all one can absorb right now. The trick then, is to improve the rate/amount of ascorbate absorption to better approach the need, while fixing whatever other problem(s) there may be. Eventually all will be reasonably "well", BT will go up to normal healthy but not to "sick" status, but requirement will go down.
BT is reached when the contents of the large intestine are hypertonic with respect to the bloodstream. Hypertonic can mean any dissolved substance in solution, and I've never heard what substance(s) exactly is involved here, but I suspect it is largely sodium. The body is designed to neutralize acid (H+) solutions coming from the stomach, and the major means is by excreting sodium bicarbonate at the entrance to the small intestine, so whether you take ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate, it will be sodium ascorbate at the end of the line - if it hasn't been absorbed. Of course, if there is too much ascorbic acid moving too quickly, or the acid neutralizing mechanisms are not right, there might be H+ left over. I've never taken NaAsc, so I have no experience there.
The most obvious method of improving ascorbate absorption is to slow down the transit speed through the gut, so that the ascorbate is absorbed before it gets to the large intestine. Pauling and others have calculated the amounts of plant material our ancestors would have had to eat (and chew!) to get the required ascorbate - it represents a lot of fiber, minerals, etc. At any given time the ascorbate concentrations would be low, but the transit speeds would be slow and the churning of digestion would bring everything into contact with intestinal walls, giving good absorption. So, it appears to me that taking ascorbate with or immediately after eating is good. The exception is when you are trying to deal with sickness, when you want to immediately get ascorbate into the blood in quantity, at the expense of efficiency. Further, I think anybody who has trouble taking "adequate" amounts of ascorbate should be putting a bit in everything he eats, to get levels up. Ascorbic acid goes fine in any fruit thing, and NaAsc disappears in almost everything else, so get on it.
If there is in fact any component of H+ contributing to the hypertonic situation, then neutralizing the acid should help. This can easily be done with minerals, and it will help to improve mineral balance even if H+ is not an issue - most minerals are best absorbed from an acid solution, and many unhappy digestive systems are woefully deficient in the requisite acid. Levy has a good piece on mineral forms of ascorbate. I wanted to provide myself with ascorbate and water for traveling, so I mix 20-30gm ascorbic acid in two quarts of water with about 10% or less "dark" fruit juice, and drink it over a 10 or 12 hr period. Works wonders for fatigue and next day soreness; at 64 I have several times in the last year worked hard outside for 24hours, then driven 12 hrs, and get up after 5 hrs sleep with zero signs of having done anything out of ordinary. Then I figured that since everybody is deficient in Magnesium and potassium, I would add some of those. It turns out that both magnesium as milk of magnesia, and potassium as potassium chloride = "No salt" de-acidify this mixture at surprisingly low amounts. In fact, the "dark juices", eg cranberry, pomegranate, blueberry etc., act as a litmus indicator and turn from red to a murky purple if you put too much in, and it tastes faintly salty and utterly boring. This mixture has even better effects than the plain; you could dilute it to any level, especially for children. This is also super for rehydration in hot weather/hard work, consider it as a super GatorAide at about 10% of the price.
Normally I take my magnesium (and any other minerals-rare) as Mg oxide (it is about all there was when I started), and always take it with ascorbic acid. Contrary to what everybody seems to believe, I can identify effects in less than 30 minutes, so it must work. And if you want to talk placebo, consider that it works on uninformed people and my dog and cats too. I will make another post specifically about pain control and ascorbate/Mg/Ca.
FRM