• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Vitamin C and type 2

P

Platty61

Newbie
Messages
1
I read an article about the benefits of Vit C and type 2 diabetes saying that it can lower your blood sugar levels. I have been taking 1000mg daily for 6 weeks now and can honestly say that this truly is the case, for most of the day I now have levels of a none diabetic, i am so happy with the results so far, what have you got to lose try it!
 
Carbohydrates are the problem for T2's not a lack of vit c. I wouldn't be hopeful of any long term success with your strategy.
Welcome to the forum, read around, much wisdom is to be found here (even if it's not mine:))
 
@Platty61 I spent quite a bit of time learning about vitamin C recently. Not sure if my blood glucose levels improved or not, but it regularly caused my glucose meter to malfunction. By that I mean having to use multiple test strips for one reading and/or getting error codes. Took me a while to figure that out. Curious as to which glucose meter you're using and if you're having any problems.

I'm currently taking 120 mg of a whole foods vitamin C twice a day, but I also have Sodium Ascorbate vitamin C on hand so I can take multiple grams at one time if needed due to illness.

Have you had an A1c done to see if it's come down since you started taking 1 gram of vitamin C a day?

My favorite lecture on vitamin C is by Suzanne Humphries in Stockholm, Sweden to the Swedish Society of Orthomolecular Medicine in 2014...


She's certified in internal medicine and nephrology in the US. She covers a lot of the history around the use of vitamin C throughout the decades. It's a fascinating listen.

I'm interested in reading the article that got you started taking vitamin C. Welcome to the forum. :)
 
Quote from an american study proposal:

"Diabetes is a disease characterised by decreased sensitivity to the action on insulin to promote sugar (glucose) use and blood vessel relaxation (vasodilation) in muscle. Insulin's ability to cause blood vessel relaxation is controlled, in part, by nitric oxide (NO).

Nitric oxide is a substance produced by the cells lining blood vessel walls (endothelium). Increased blood flow to the muscle accounts for increased sugar (glucose) to areas of the body. Therefore, if the cells of blood vessel walls (endothelium) are not functioning properly it may contribute to insulin resistance.

Injections of Vitamin C directly into the arteries have been shown to improve blood vessel reaction to nitric oxide in diabetic patients. Researchers believe this may be due to Vitamin C's ability to increase the levels of nitric oxide in blood vessels."
 
@First.Officer that's interesting. Is that information accessible or is it behind a pay wall? When I began learning about insulin resistance 4 years ago, I had no idea how complex it is. I'd like to take a look at it, that is if it's possible to link to it. Not sure how it's practical to apply that info other than to take vitamin C with each meal and perhaps before bed to maintain levels throughout all waking hours. Can't remember, but I think vitamin C is only present for 4, 6, or 8 hours, so it needs to be frequently replinished.
 
Hi, First Officer. I notice that your reference is for a study proposal. Have you come across any completed studies that validate this idea?
Also, I am wary of taking high doses of Vit C as any excess needs to be rapidly excreted and can lead to the formation of ascorbate kidney stones. Given that poorly controlled diabetes can lead to renal insufficiency and possible renal failure anything that could lead to kidney malfunction is to be avoided.
 
@Winnie53 - Yeah, link is:- https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00001870

As stated earlier it is for a study proposal and any subject matter should be taken as it is shown i would suggest.

I hear what your saying @Dr Snoddy - and would agree that there are negatives to the proposal using Vitamin C. Its also true i think when considering a LCHF (involving high levels of Protein?), that the formation of Gall Stones and Kidney Stones is equally an issue. That said, this seems to work in many T2 cases. A balancing act i think ;-).
 
First.Officer said:
Its also true i think when considering a LCHF (involving high levels of Protein?), that the formation of Gall Stones and Kidney Stones is equally an issue. That said, this seems to work in many T2 cases. A balancing act i think ;-).
Click to expand...
I had gall stone issues after embarking on the Atkins diet. Had my gall bladder removed as a consequence. And one of the chief reasons fueling a degree of hesitancy on my part.
 
Last edited:
@First.Officer your comments continue to confuse me regarding your characterization of the LCHF/ketogenic diet as a "high protein diet". I'd appreciate it if you'd specifically define what you believe to be a "high protein".

As far as I know, Ted Naiman, M.D. in the US is the only doctor who promotes eating higher levels of protein on the ketogenic diet. When I started the ketogenic diet 4 years ago, I did not increase my protein intake. It's the same as it's been my entire life.

Oh, and thanks for the link. Looks like the study was completed but I don't know how to find the studies results.
 
@Winnie53 - i'm generalising, in as much as the most common high fat can also contain moderate to high levels of protein, i'm thinking along the lines of full fat cheese, various nuts, fish, eggs, chia seeds....
 
@Dr Snoddy not sure kidney stones are a problem for most people who take vitamin C, though admittedly, that's a common belief. Dr. Humphries addresses that in her presentation. As for kidney health, you're right, it's critically important, and the only way I know to preserve it is to keep insulin and glucose levels low to prevent hyperglycemia and hypertension which damage the kidney.

As for gall stones, I thought it was low fat diets that are more likely to cause gall stones.

I see no harm what so ever in taking vitamin C throughout the day. I was taking 2 to 3 grams a day until I realized it was what was causing my glucose meter to malfunction.
 
Last edited:
First.Officer said:
@Winnie53 - i'm generalising, in as much as the most common high fat can also contain moderate to high levels of protein, i'm thinking along the lines of full fat cheese, various nuts, fish, eggs, chia seeds....
Click to expand...

Oh, okay, I see where you're coming from. One of the challenges with the ketogenic diet is our phobic fear of fat because we've been told our entire lives that fat is bad.

I do not seek out protein sources for my fat intake. Instead I eat butter, extra virgin olive oil, occasionally coconut oil, olives, and avocados. If eating meat from animals that are not eating their traditional diet, it's best to NOT eat the fat.

I've always eaten eggs because they're such a nutrient dense food., and wild caught seafood because they provide nutrients that are difficult to get elsewhere.

As for eating a variety of nuts and cheeses daily, I eat my nuts raw (so the fat isn't damaged) and typically eat one serving of nuts and one serving of cheese daily. Because I don't eat refined starches or sugar, my body needs those calories.

But I don't just eat protein and fat. I eat non-starchy vegetables with every meal, typically cooked, but raw too daily. I also try to eat leafy greens daily. For a treat, I eat a small portion of fruit or berries.

I've been eating this way for 4 years and my lab work is good to excellent. The ketogenic diet is a high fat diet, not a high protein diet.
 
I should add here, we should all fear the omega-6 rich industrial seed oils - (soybean, saffola, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, canola, and peanut). They are damaging to the body and have no role in a healthy diet.

I think the reason I'm so healthy is due to eating a real, whole food diet, not a processed food diet which is so common today. I cook my meals from scratch every day.
 
Platty61 said:
I read an article about the benefits of Vit C and type 2 diabetes saying that it can lower your blood sugar levels. I have been taking 1000mg daily for 6 weeks now and can honestly say that this truly is the case, for most of the day I now have levels of a none diabetic, i am so happy with the results so far, what have you got to lose try it!
Click to expand...

@Platty61, I'd really appreciate a link to the article you read. Vitamin C is a subject of great interest to me. :)
 
Listlad said:
Along similar lines to the castor sugar thread.
Click to expand...
No it is not, read this article from Diabetes Queensland.

Dr Snoddy said:
Hi, First Officer. I notice that your reference is for a study proposal. Have you come across any completed studies that validate this idea?
Click to expand...
This may be of help.

Winnie53 said:
@Platty61, I'd really appreciate a link to the article you read. Vitamin C is a subject of great interest to me. :)
Click to expand...
This may be of interest.

https://www.diabetesqld.org.au/medi...ntent=Vitamin+C&utm_source=www.vision6.com.au
 
The study proposal quoted by First Officer is based on the effects of Vitamin C that was directly injected into arteries. Is there a way of finding if Vit C taken orally has the same effects?
 
@Tipetoo thank you, thank you for that link! So encouraging and hopeful!

@Dr Snoddy if you look at the article Tipetoo just posted for us on the Australian use of vitamin C, I think with meals, to reduce glucose levels, it would have to be orally. IV is only used for extremely high doses, for cancer patients, etc. And it costs hundreds of dollars.

I'm going to go back on 500 mg vitamin C with meals to see what it does. My glucose meter will still work. I'll just have to waste some strips. Worth it! :)
 
Back
Top