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[moe666]

Recieved an E-mail from friend about a New Zealand man on deaths door (H1N1 infection)  saved by infusion of vit.c, article can be found at mercola.com.. Very good article and very informative.

[Sheryl]

I have edited the title of this thread since to say it "cured" the flu would imply that it eliminated the virus altogether, which is not what the article describes, although it (wrongly) uses that terminology.

The article gives an anecdotal account of one person who had leukemia and also contacted swine flu, was seriously ill and not expected to get better, received IV Vitamin C and stabilized.

In science, it takes considerably more than one anecdotal account to establish cause and effect.

The article is sensationalist and in tone.

There is certainly no harm, and possibly some benefit, to taking supplemental Vit C orally  if one has a respiratory infection be it swine flu or other, ditto to taking (reasonable amount) for daily supplement.  But this article does not remotely provide evidence for use of  massive intravenous doses.

[moe666]

Sheryl, there have been volumns written about the effectivness of vit.c Linus Pauling spent his life studing the health benefits of vit.c and high dose vit.c given thru iv is now used to treat cancer.

[msg362]

moe666, on 2009-09-26 06:42:32, said:

Sheryl, there have been volumns written about the effectivness of vit.c Linus Pauling spent his life studing the health benefits of vit.c and high dose vit.c given thru iv is now used to treat cancer.

Have to agree with Sheryl. One story does not make it evidence. you might equally claim that because he ate pizza that night,  ( if he did I do not know), it cured him. Ben Goldacre has written a book ' Bad Science' in which he exposes many of the sensational stories that journalists without scientific training put out simply because they don't understand how to interpret scientific data. To claim vitamin C has this effect there must be properly controlled trials.

[MrHammer]

Sheryl, on 2009-09-26 00:13:49, said:

I have edited the title of this thread since to say it "cured" the flu would imply that it eliminated the virus altogether, which is not what the article describes, although it (wrongly) uses that terminology.

The article gives an anecdotal account of one person who had leukemia and also contacted swine flu, was seriously ill and not expected to get better, received IV Vitamin C and stabilized.

In science, it takes considerably more than one anecdotal account to establish cause and effect.

The article is sensationalist and in tone.

There is certainly no harm, and possibly some benefit, to taking supplemental Vit C orally  if one has a respiratory infection be it swine flu or other, ditto to taking (reasonable amount) for daily supplement.  But this article does not remotely provide evidence for use of  massive intravenous doses.

Well, unfortunately there will probably not be done any serious study of the benefits of Vit C IV in our lifetimes as the profit margins are too low and vit c too readily available to be of any use for the pharma industry.

I've gotten sick even when taking 3-4 g a day and I suspect much larger doses are needed intravenously to make any difference.

However, Sheryl, have you heard of the benefits of gamma globulin injections against flu? I read this is essentially the best way of hyper-boosting the immune system.