Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Editor's Choice

Trust is crucial in lockdown—and beyond

BMJ 2020; 369 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1721 (Published 30 April 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;369:m1721

Read our latest coverage of the coronavirus pandemic

Rapid Response:

Trust in high dose IV Vitamin C Re: Trust is crucial in lockdown—and beyond

Dear Editor

Trust in high dose intravenous Vitamin C

Probably the greatest lack of trust, leading to a prolonged lockdown, has been the failure to use high dose intravenous Vitamin C to treat coronavirus disease in the UK.

Simmons and Smith report the now overwhelming evidence of the efficacy of an intravenous vitamin C protocol against coronavirus. They write that in spite of this accumulation of the evidence, the FDA, the CDC, and many respected members of the medical community inexplicably jeopardize their own credibility, apparently to save the irrelevant business model of the pharmaceutical industry. [1]

Shockingly, vitamin C has been known to be viricidal since 1948. [2] Diseased cells tend to accumulate iron. The ascorbate (vitamin C) ion contributes to the production of hydrogen peroxide. In a reaction called the Fenton Reaction, an iron ion reacts with a molecule of hydrogen peroxide to produce free radicals (reactive oxygen species, ROS) that can oxidize and damage any other molecules in their proximity. When this activity occurs inside the diseased cell, the inner workings of the cell are destroyed, and the diseased cell is rendered inoperative. Unlike vaccines, this anti-viral mechanism has nothing to do with the type of the target viral particle or its molecular antigens, which is the strategy upon which modern vaccines depend. If the invading organism mutates, the Fenton reaction process will destroy the cell all the same -- without any need of appropriate antibodies. The diseased cells self-select because they hoard the iron. An increased availability of ascorbate and hydrogen peroxide leaves the healthy cells untouched. [3]

In late January or early February, 2020, the Chinese government placed an order with Dutch State Mines (DSM) for 50 tons of vitamin C. Hospital trials started in Wuhan on February 12. Patients would be administered 24,000 milligrams of vitamin C each day for 7 days. The next day, on February 13, Dr Richard Cheng, director of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board to the International Intravenous Vitamin C China Epidemic Medical Support Team, and U.S. board-certified specialist in anti-aging medicine, announced a second intravenous vitamin C study, in which 6,000 to 12,000 milligrams per day would be given to moderate and severe cases. These announcements were made on the hospital's website, and these protocols were being published all over Asia. [4] The next day, February 14, the clinical trial commenced at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan, China. In just two days, on February 16, Shanghai announced an "official" recommendation to use high-dose intravenous treatment of vitamin C to treat COVID-19. [5] The official recommendation called for doses ranging from 50-200 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, or up to as much as 16,000 milligrams per day. On April 8, approximately 100 days since the unexplained pneumonia appeared in Wuhan, the lockdown in China was being lifted.

The potential beneficial effects of high dose Vitamin C treatment is too important to ignore in the UK.

1 Simmons WF, Smith RG. Vitamin C and coronavirus: not a vaccine; just a humble cure. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, May 4, 2020.
2 Klenner FR. (1948) Virus pneumonia and its treatment with vitamin C. South Med Surg. 110:36-38. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18900646 http://www.whale.to/v/c/klenner2.html
3 Li J, Cao F, Yin HL, Huang ZJ, et al (2020) Ferroptosis: past, present and future. Cell Death Dis. 11:88. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32015325
4 Cheng R. (2020) Can early and large dose vitamin C be used in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19? Medicine Drug Discov. In Press, Journal Pre-proof. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590098620300154
5 Government of Shanghai now officially recommends high-dose vitamin C for COVID-19 Coronavirus.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusFOS/comments/fczmu8/government_ of_shanghai_now_officially_recommends https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/bF2YhJKiOfe1yimBc4XwOA
http://rs.yiigle.com/m/yufabiao/1183266.htm

Competing interests: No competing interests

06 May 2020
Ellen CG Grant
Physician and medical gynaecologist
Retired
Kingston-upon-Thames. UK