Early Signs of Scurvy

     I recently re-read  Every Second Child by Archie Kalokerinos. Sadly, the book is hard to come by now. I had a chance to meet Archie in the 1970's. He was a physician who practiced medicine among the Australian Aboriginal people. Both Aborigines and whites living in his area lived largely on processed foods marginal in their vitamin C content.

     In the early days of Archie's practice every other child was dying of sudden infant death syndrome. Through years of trial and error and study Archie came to the conclusion that these children were marginal in their intake of vitamin C. They also had compromised digestive tracts and experienced frequent runny noses, ear infections, and lung infections. Sudden infant death was often precipitated by immunization or administration of antibiotics. Cerebral irritation and unwillingness to move due to pain often preceded sudden death.

     Archie began injecting his infants with vitamin C prior to immunization or administration of antibiotics and he did not see  the death of a child for two years. This work is important because 80% of sudden and unexpected infant deaths fall into the category of SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Many of these deaths might be preventable just by improving the vitamin C status of the children.

     Archie also noted that there was a tendency to develop severe bruising if serious scurvy developed in infants. He recounts a case in which an Aboriginal mother was tried and convicted of murder despite the fact that his own examination clearly indicated that the child had died from scurvy.

     Human beings are unique from most other animals in that they can not produce vitamin C within their own bodies. Medical personnel have diagnosed outright scurvy among adolescents and older people living on highly processed foods. Many other cases are probably diagnosed as other diseases, since most doctors to not expect to see scurvy today and are not familiar with the signs of subclinical scurvy.

     Most people should supplement with this vitamin. Linus Pauling pointed out long ago that the recommended intake of vitamin C for monkeys is 20 times higher that the recommended intake for human beings by the same government agency. The physiology is the same.

     The NeoLife Super C contains vitamin C locked in a mesh of protein. It releases gradually over a period of many hours as the protein is digested. This is important because the half-life of vitamin C at higher doses is only about 30 minutes in the blood. It washes out very rapidly. To experience the full benefits of vitamin C spread out intake.