ALLERGIES: VITAMIN Ñ TO THE RESCUE.
March 25th, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: AllergiesNo Comments
The need for vitamin Ñ seems to be greater in some allergic people,’ Ms Dart told us. ‘For many people, large doses of vitamin Ñ – up to eight grams taken orally, divided over three or four hours – will break a reaction.
‘That’s a lot of vitamin Ñ in anyone’s book,’ she commented. ‘But it’s at that point that the reaction or the symptoms subside.’
To determine the approximate amount of vitamin Ñ required to break an allergic reaction in an individual, Ms Dart works gradually. First she tries three grams, then another gram, until the symptoms subside. (Ms Dart cautions that because such large doses of ascorbic acid can cause stomach or intestinal upsets, people should use the ascorbate forms of vitamin Ñ instead.)
‘The average dose to break a reaction is five to eight grams,’ says Ms Dart. ‘It’s hard to say how the vitamin works – whether it’s because of its antioxidant capabilities [which prevent cell damage], the fact that it boosts the immune system or the vitamin’s antihistamine action. But we use it on a regular basis.’
For hay fever, at least, the way vitamin Ñ works is quite clear: it acts as a natural antihistamine, helping to relieve the red, watery eyes, runny nose and congestion provoked by histamine. Researchers in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn studied 400 people, and found that with higher blood levels of vitamin C, histamine was lower – and vice versa. When eleven people with low vitamin C/ high histamine levels were given daily supplements of 1,000 milligrams [one gram] of vitamin C, their hay fever symptoms improved within three days (Journal of Nutrition).
Dr Stuart Freyer, an ear-nose-and-throat specialist in Bennington, Vermont, prescribes vitamin Ñ for hay fever and gives his patients relatively high amounts of the nutrient. ‘Five grams or more is typical,’ he told us.
Incidentally, Dr Freyer advises anyone taking that much Ñ to take calcium, too.
‘High levels of vitamin Ñ may bind with calcium and pull it out of the bones. It’s then flushed out in the urine when the body discards any excess vitamin C,’ he explains. ‘Vitamin Ñ may also combine with calcium in the diet to interfere with absorption.
‘There should be no problem with calcium deficiency if a person uses vitamin Ñ in the calcium ascorbate form rather than its simple ascorbic acid form, or if the ascorbic acid is supplemented with adequate amounts of calcium,’ he assured us. ‘I usually recommend that my patients take 400 to 600 milligrams of dolomite calcium a day during hay fever season.’
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