After a lot of research, we’ve discovered just how viruses work in the body and how vitamin C, in particular, can help to eliminate them and relieve the symptoms that they cause. We found a lot of conflicting information, from “vitamin C does not help with viruses at all” to “vitamin C kills the virus directly when it hits your stomach”. So, we decided to exclusively look at clinical trials and expert reports to clear this up.
Technically, the “stomach flu” or “stomach virus” is gastroenteritis. This is the inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, involving the stomach and/or intestines, resulting in diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea and possibly vomiting. Gastroenteritis can be viral or bacterial, or it can be caused by allergies, toxins, parasites, or medications. For simplicity, we are going to discuss the most common cause; viruses.
Anti-viral drugs work by inhibiting the enzymes that allow viruses to replicate. These enzymes are called “neuraminidases” and they are needed to force a host cell to release them, which would enable them to spread to more, healthy cells. Vitamin C does the same thing. It inhibits neuraminidases, forcing them to be held captive until the body has time to produce antibodies against it. So, technically vitamin C and anti-viral drugs do not “kill” a virus, but they keep it from being allowed to spread and cause more symptoms.
There are three main benefits to using something like vitamin C powder to treat gastroenteritis instead of anti-viral drugs. One, vitamin C doesn’t have any detrimental side effects. The reported side effects for the most common and considered safest anti-viral drug include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, cardiac arrhythmia, seizures, aggravation of diabetes, hemorrhagic colitis, epidermal necrolysis, hallucinations, abnormal behavior, self harming behaviors, suicidal thoughts and actions, and impaired consciousness. Sadly, most of these side effects are most commonly seen in children, enough for some countries to ban its use in children and teenagers.
Secondly, mineral vitamin C powder, like C-Salts, helps to replace and maintain electrolytes lost through vomiting and diarrhea. Mixing electrolytes with sugar, chemicals used in artificial sweeteners, food colorings, and other ingredients can render the electrolytes useless. Minerals, such as zinc, also have anti-viral properties and work with vitamin C to make the body’s T-cells more effective. This boosts immunity and speeds the process of creating antibodies against the virus.
Lastly, vitamin C (sodium ascorbate) can safely be taken in large enough amounts to not only keep viruses from replicating during the first 24 hours, but for many days after the initial viral infection begins. With anti-viral medications, you can only take them very early on and then not again. Vitamin C has anti-viral properties even in the late stages of viral infection.
Most viruses will “run their course” and be eliminated from the body in 2-5 days. Vitamin C can help to lessen the symptoms of a viral stomach bug by eliminating the inflammation of the intestines and stomach. It is this inflammation that causes the worst symptoms of the stomach virus, such as diarrhea and vomiting. Many people believe that you have to let the diarrhea and vomiting continue to “get the virus out”, but that simply isn’t true. The virus is causing the inflammation that causes these symptoms. It is only eliminated when your body produces antibodies against it and kills it off. Controlling the inflammation and replication of the virus can help you to stay relatively unaffected by the virus while it runs its course.
About the Author: Phil Le Breton is owner at Wholesale Nutrition. He has a strong interest in helping people achieve greater brain and body health with vitamins and supplements, with an emphasis on vitamin C powder. Wholesale Nutrition has provided the world with the best vitamin C and wholesale vitamins since 1970. Visit http://www.nutri.com to buy high-quality discount vitamins today!
Sources:
http://www.medicinenet.com/gastroenteritis/page2.htm#causes
http://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/198x/smith-lh-clinical_guide_1988.htm
http://www.patrickholford.com/index.php/blog/blogarticle/420/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oseltamivir
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_a_virus_make_a_person_sick
http://www.orthomed.com/titrate.htm
