Fitness

Although I have never been up a night with a sick child, I know of nothing which brings me greater comfort as a mother than the knowledge that vitamin C can help in emergencies. Other mothers feel the same. For example, a friend’s little boy, then the only child, died of meningitis. Three children were born later. The mother’s fear that something would happen to one of these children was ruining her life and theirs. During polio season they were not allowed to go to a pool or mingle in crowds. The mother gathered files of articles concerning diseases from newspapers and magazines; she became overcautious about sanitation and still lived in fear and dread. 1 saw her recently for the first time in years; the children were at a park, swimming. I commented on her change of attitude.

“I never worry about them any more,” she answered. “At the first sniffle I give extra vitamin C. The kids haven’t been sick a day in two years.”

My first personal experience with massive doses of vitamin C came when my Geordie, then five years old, had the mumps. One morning when we awoke, the evidence was unmistakable. Starting at 7 A.M., I gave him 1,000 milligrams of “melted” vitamin C and a little calcium powder in ;4 glass of pineapple, apricot, or orange juice every hour except when he slept, making a total of 10 grams during the day. By that evening, all swelling was gone, and there was no further sign of illness. Within the next two months every member of our family including me-which proves I am younger than you think I am-had the one-day mumps. The children have now weathered most of the childhood “diseases” in the same delightful fashion. There has been no irritability, nausea, or vomiting; no meals have been missed; after vitamin C has been given, there has been no fever.

My only other personal experience occurred a year ago when I returned from an out-of-town trip to find that my daughter Barbara, then three years old, was ill. She had appeared to be well when put to bed, but when she was checked shortly before my return, her breathing was labored, her skin Hushed and burning, and her rectal temperature 1040 F. Fortunately, she was thirsty. I immediately gave her 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C in juice. Her temperature appeared to be normal within 15 minutes; she slept soundly the remainder of the night, awoke full of her usual vivacity, and went to play school that morning. She had no further evidence of illness. The amounts of vitamin C I have found effective with my children may be inadequate for youngsters who have received smaller amounts of this vitamin. I try to keep their tissues saturated at all times; at least I cannot recall having seen a bruise on either child.

The quantity of vitamin C to take depends on the type . and severity of the illness and whether it is of short duration or chronic. Large amounts are usually needed at first to saturate the tissues; the quantities can later be reduced. Persons suffering from arthritis, asthma, or other chronic diseases have often taken drugs for months or even years; these drugs must apparently be detoxified before vitamin C is available to the tissues. For example, two years ago I was consulted by a man who had come to California for his health in 1927. He had suffered with severe asthma for several years before and continuously since that time; he told me that during this entire period he had taken mugs daily. Although I planned the most adequate diet for him that I could and recommended what I considered to be massive doses of vitamin C, he showed little improvement from September until December; his symptoms then disappeared and have not returned. It is my belief that results were slow in his case and similar cases because of the drugs remaining in his body.

The quantity of vitamin C most advantageous under all circumstances for all persons can probably never be known. Our requirements vary daily. Almost every person is exposed to chemicals from water purifiers, smog, smoke, or smoking; from arsenic, DDT, and other pesticides, traces of which are found in fruits, vegetables, meats, and milk; many people take drugs occasionally; and most of us are threatened by one or more infections per year. Each individual must find his own dosage, depending upon his own symptoms and the number of toxic substances he is exposed to. If you are going to use massive doses over a prolonged period, however, do it only when your diet is adequate in every respect and with your physician’s permission and under his care. During normal times, use natural sources first: a glass of orange juice daily; salads; and fresh fruits for desserts and midmeals. Watch for bruises; if they occur, know that your intake of vitamin C is not meeting your needs; then supplement your natural sources if you need to.

Although massive doses of vitamin C appear not to be toxic, much research must be done before any long-term harm can be ruled out. If harm is caused by massive doses, however, it appears to be far less than that done by a disease. Large amounts of this vitamin often act as a diuretic, causing excessive urination, corresponding dehydration, and extreme thirst. These symptoms are largely prevented if calcium is taken with the vitamin. If calcium is not taken, extreme nervousness sometimes results; therefore let us be cautious.

The greatest value of massive doses of vitamin C will never be shown by research or found in a laboratory. It is in the hearts and prayers of the parents of the nation. They will render silent tribute to the wonderful scientists and physicians who have brought them peace of mind.

Dr. Klenner, Chief of Staff at the Memorial Hospital in Reidsville, North Carolina, appears to have given the largest quantities of this vitamin to date, usually by injection.” It was my good fortune to visit with Dr. Klenner recently and hear him lecture. He showed slides of hospital records and fever charts and told of case after case of meningitis, encephalitis, polio, virus pneumonia, and serious complications following scarlet fever and other diseases treated with massive amounts of vitamin C. Many patients had not been expected to live; often penicillin, aureomycin, and other antibiotics had been given without success; in most instances, fevers ranged from 103 to 105° F. Within a few minutes after the vitamin was injected, fevers started to drop and temperatures often reached normal within a few hours. Usually the patient enjoyed the next meal and was ready to be discharged from the hospital in two or three days. The amount of vitamin given varied with the severity of the illness. The initial dose was usually 2,000 to 6,000 milligrams .( 2 to 6 grams), Iollowed four and eight hours later by a second and a third injection of 2,000 to 4,000 milligrams if the temperature did not remain normal; injections were continued around the clock when needed.

Dr. Klenner told of an eighteen-month-old girl suffering from polio. The mother reported that the child had become paralyzed following a convulsion, after which she soon lost consciousness. When Dr. Klenner first saw the child, her little body was blue, stiff, and cold to the touch; he could neither hear heart sounds nor feel her pulse; her rectal temperature was 100° F. The only sign of life he could detect was a suggestion of moisture condensed on a minor held to her mouth. The mother was convinced that the child was already dead. Dr. Klenner injected 6,000 milligrams of vitamin C into her blood; four hours later the child was cheerful and alert, holding a bottle with her right hand, though her left side was paralyzed. A second injection was given; soon the child was laughing and holding her bottle with both hands, all signs of paralysis gone. Dr. Klenner quite understandably speaks of vitamin C as “the antibiotic par excellence.” A physician who has obtained striking results in treating polio with vitamin C at the Los Angeles County Hospital matched Dr. Klenner’s enthusiasm with the remark, “If anything should be called a miracle drug, it is vitamin C.”

With his extremely ill patients, Dr. Klenner found that no vitamin C whatsoever could be detected in the blood only a few minutes after massive doses were injected; nor was any vitamin C found in the urine. It is his belief that this vitamin combines immediately with toxins and/or virus, thus causing the fever to drop. In cases where the fever rises again later, he believes that too little vitamin C has been given in the initial dose; that virus not destroyed multiplies and again causes the temperature to increase. For this reason, he emphasizes that if the original dose is sufficiently large, no further massive amounts need be given.

Many other investigators have studied the effect of massive doses of vitamin C. In an attempt to saturate the tissues, physicians have recommended as much as 1,000 milligrams every hour during the day from 1 to 3 days to persons suffering from arthritis, gout and almost any infectious disease, infection, or allergy, the same amount being repeated during subsequent acute attacks. They have also recommended that this quantity be taken immediately at the onset of a cold or any infection and that the vitamin be stopped as soon as the symptoms have disappeared. On the other hand, satisfactory results have been reported when an allergy or lead poisoning has been treated with as little as 300 milligrams daily. These problems, however, are medical ones; our problem is prevention.

Physicians have pointed out that patients with polio, for example, have often been sick several days before a doctor is called in and a diagnosis made. By the time such cases are cleared by a social worker and a March-of-Dimes committee and are actually checked into a hospital, they are in what has been described as “a sorry state.” Vitamin C has proved to be most effective when taken at the onset of an infection, at which time a patient rarely sees his physician. Relatively smaller amounts are needed than those required after an illness becomes serious. If sufficient quantities of the vitamin are obtained, often serious illness may be prevented. It appears desirable, therefore, for persons to learn when large amounts of vitamin C should be taken and how much should be taken. Such information has great comfort value.

I asked 15 physicians if they felt it wise to recommend that families keep high-potency, vitamin-C tablets in the medicine chest and use them at the onset of any illness. The most frequent reply was, “They are certainly safer than aspirin.” Several physicians remarked, “Tell people to take them when they need to, but the rest of the time to stick to orange juice and natural sources.” Others pointed out the importance of advising large initial doses rather than smaller frequent ones, the total of which might be larger than would be needed if the original dose were sufficient.

When persons are too ill to eat or retain food and/or to digest or absorb it easily, as were Dr. Klenner’s patients, injections of vitamin C are obviously advantageous. If the vitamin is taken immediately at the onset of an illness, however, such difficulties rarely arise. Occasionally undissolved tablets can be seen in the stools, particularly if diarrhea occurs. For this reason I usually tell people to bring one cup of water to a boil, add to it 50 tablets of vitamin C of 500 milligrams each or 100 tablets of 250 milligrams each, stir until the tablets are dissolved, pour the solution into a glass jar, and keep it refrigerated. Since tablets do not contain the enzymes found in natural foods, the synthetic vitamin is quite stable to heat. Each teaspoon of this solution would contain 500 milligrams; one or two tablespoons added to any sweet juice are quite palatable. Less vitamin C is needed if the solution is taken in fresh, canned, or frozen orange juice to which are added the juice of a lemon, sugar to taste, and perhaps W teaspoon of a calcium salt 3 (p. 181); the fresh citrus juices supply vitamin P, or rutin, which prevents vitamin C from being destroyed in the body by oxygen; the calcium helps to prevent the toxic substances from entering the cells. An adult can take tablets of both vitamin C and calcium. Since the vitamin is an acid, large amounts can cause severe burning of the throat and stomach. When more vitamin C is taken than is needed, the acid being thrown off in the urine usually causes a burning sensation when voided.

Although it has been known for centuries that a person dying of scurvy could make a startling and dramatic recovery if fresh foods were given him, vitamin C can bring about other startling and dramatic recoveries only recently discovered. Most of the research being done is still unpublished; only a few articles have yet reached the medical journals.  Aside from helping to build collagen, this vitamin appears to be a busybody with its fingers in every pie. When toxic or poison substances gain access to the body, adequate vitamin C, if available, detoxifies them, making them harmless. The toxic substance apparently combines with the vitamin, and the two are excreted together in the urine; this combination is now given the name of ascorbigen.  It has long been known that during infections and diseases, vitamin C disappears from the blood and urine; that the more vitamin C given, the less ill the person usually is, and the more quickly he recovers; and that 20 to 40 times more of the vitamin has to be given during illnesses to keep the tissues saturated than during periods of health. Furthermore, antibodies are unable to render bacteria harmless unless vitamin C is adequately supplied. Antibodies must be helped by a complement; if there is no vitamin C, there is no complement. Vitamin C seems equally helpful whether the disease is caused by virus or bacteria or is non-infectious, as is gout, arthritis, or a stomach or duodenal ulcer. Almost endless infections and diseases have been studied: colds, polio, rheumatic fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, infections of the prostate, ears, eyes, sinuses and tonsils, the childhood diseases and many others. In every case, vitamin C appears to be the good little Christian ready tc soothe the aching brow.  It has been found that vitamin C can prevent or cure chemical poisoning. This vitamin has been valuable in correcting the toxic effects of lead, bromide, arsenic, benzene, and many other substances which sometimes gain access to the body, especially of persons doing industrial work.  Studies have proved that vitamin C helps to prevent allergies; if enough is given, it can detoxify the harmful effects of allergins which have entered the blood, whether they be pollens, dusts, dandruff, or foods. This vitamin seems to be equally effective in treating all varieties of allergies, whether rhinitis (stuffy nose and/or postnasal drip), hay fever, asthma, eczema, or hives; spectacular relief often results from massive doses of vitamin C. Even the effects of poison oak and poison ivy often disappear when sufficient vitamin C is taken.  Any foreign substance reaching the blood appears to be more or less toxic; the harm is prevented by vitamin C, but the vitamin itself is destroyed in the process. For example, every drug apparently destroys vitamin C in the body. When a drug promises to save your life, the vitamin destruction is unimportant; if it is being taken promiscuously without a physician’s prescription, both the drug and the vitamin loss may be unnecessary. It has been found that a single tablet of anyone of several drugs widely used and considered harmless can continue to destroy vitamin C in the body for three weeks after the drug is taken. The Journal of the American Medical Association carried an editorial entitled “Is Aspirin a Dangerous Drug?” I pointing out that aspirin had proved more dangerous in England and Europe than in America because our diets contained more vitamin C with which to detoxify it.  This vitamin appears to play no major role in producing energy; yet it helps to prevent fatigue. For example, a group of soldiers was given vitamin C until the tissues were saturated. Their performance was compared with that of a similar group not given the vitamin. After maneuvers involving carrying heavy equipment, walking miles, and climbing mountains, the soldiers given vitamin C experienced little fatigue, recovered quickly, and had no leg cramps, whereas the other soldiers suffered severely from cramps and fatigue and did not completely recover for days. The harmful “ashes” left from incompletely burned fats, known as acetone bodies, which accumulate in the tissues when the blood sugar falls below normal, is a major cause of fatigue; these acetone bodies are detoxified by vitamin C.  Vitamin C seems to help everything by being destroyed by everything. For a nutrition consultant, the situation as regards vitamin C becomes progressively more embarrassing. No one seems to be in danger of coming down with scurvy; yet almost every person has abnormalities which vitamin C has been proved to help. In order to do good work, a nutritionist seems to have to accept the fact that people think him a crackpot hipped on liver, yeast, orange juice, and vitamin-C tablets.  The quantity of vitamin C needed to detoxify a foreign substance depends upon the amount of that substance gaining access to the body. Relatively small quantities are required by the healthy person to prevent harm, particularly when adequate calcium is absorbed (p. 132). Many toxic substances, however, might enter the body simultaneously. For example, a person suffering from allergies and doing industrial work where toxic chemicals have reached his blood might suffer from a serious infection which prevents him from eating and for which he is given various drugs; his temporary need for vitamin C would be tremendous indeed. Fortunately, even massive doses of this vitamin are thought to be harmless; any excess not needed in the body is quickly lost in the urine.

Scar tissue formed in healing wounds and injuries is a connective tissue made of collagen which depends on both vitamin C and calcium for strength. During the First World War it was noticed that wounds healed slowly or failed to heal unless fresh foods were eaten. Experiments prove that speed of healing and strength of the scar tissue are directly proportional to the vitamin-C intake. Operative patients deficient in this vitamin not only heal slowly, but their wounds frequently break open. When 4,000 milligrams or more of vitamin C has been given daily to such patients, the speed of healing is often dramatic. Medical journals have urged all physicians to recommend large amounts of this vitamin before and after surgery.

Vitamin C is especially important in the healing of broken bones. When it is lacking, a collagen bone base fails to form; hence the ends of the broken parts are unable to knit. Such abnormal healing occurs frequently in older persons whose diets are notoriously deficient in multiple nutrients. Bones heal readily at any age when an adequate diet is given and steps are taken to assure normal absorption. Protein, calcium, vitamin D and other nutrients, however, are equally as important as are large amounts of vitamin C.

Although not yet understood, vitamin C apparently plays a role in maintaining normal vision. In healthy eyes, the vitamin is concentrated in the lens; the vitamin is lacking or reduced in the lens of persons having certain types of cataract. Experimental cataracts have been produced by a restricted vitamin-C intake. Marked improvement in eye infections and inflammation of the eyes often follows when large amounts of vitamin C are taken.

This vitamin cannot be stored in the body. The tissues, however, can be saturated as a sponge might be saturated with water. The state of saturation, in which every cell has all of this vitamin it can use, is considered to be most compatible with health. After saturation occurs, any excess vitamin C obtained is promptly thrown off in the urine. The amount of vitamin C found in foods, blood, or urine can easily be measured. The tissues of seemingly healthy persons whose diets have been inadequate frequently soak up as much as 4,000 milligrams of this vitamin before any is excreted; this amount is equivalent to 40 glasses of fresh citrus juice. After saturation, the amount of vitamin obtained minus that lost in the urine gives the requirement for a particular day. By this method requirements of different people under various circumstances have been studied.

About 50 milligrams of vitamin C appears to be needed daily by the genuinely healthy adult to prevent scurvy, provided his tissues are already saturated; 75 to 100 milligrams is recommended by the National Research Council as the minimum intake. This amount can be supplied by a glass of fresh orange or grapefruit juice. The scurvy-preventing requirements of vitamin C appear to increase with advancing years, probably because absorption is often faulty and much of this vitamin is destroyed in the intestine when the stomach fails to produce normal amounts of hydrochloric acid. Studies show that the aged are appallingly deficient in this vitamin. Dr. Walter H. Eddy of Columbia University pointed out years ago that many signs considered typical of old age are actually symptoms of scurvy: wrinkles, or loss of elasticity of the skin; loss of teeth; brittleness of bones. Certainly the person who wishes to retain his youthfulness should see that his ascorbic-acid intake is ample.

The vitamin C in all plants is produced, by the aid of enzymes, under conditions of warmth and moisture at which the plant grows best. Unfortunately, the action of the enzymes is reversible; they can quickly destroy what they have made. After a food is harvested, the destruction of the vitamin occurs most rapidly under the same conditions as those at which the plant grew best, that is, in a heated market or a warm room. Furthermore, the enzymes destroy the vitamin by combining it with oxygen; hence, if a fruit or vegetable is peeled or chopped, the destruction is unusually rapid. The enzymes are kept inactive by refrigeration or are destroyed by heat at about 1400 F. Since the vitamin dissolves in water, much or all of it is lost when foods are washed slowly, soaked, or boiled. The average housewife, untrained in nutrition, is a genius at destroying vitamin C before the food can be swallowed.

For practical purposes, the best source of this vitamin is citrus fruits and juices. Fresh orange juice averages 130 milligrams for an eight-ounce glass; grapefruit and lemon and canned orange juice, about 100 milligrams. Frozen orange juice may be as rich as fresh or may contain little, depending on the type of oranges from which the juice came, the method of extraction, and the length of time it has been stored. Often culls, containing little vitamin C, are used for juice. In general, the sweeter oranges, to which no sugar need be added, have the highest vitamin-C content. Other juices, such as apple, pineapple, or grape, are not good sources, whether canned, frozen, or fresh. Tomato juice may supply 30 milligrams of vitamin C per glass or may contain none. A ripe pimiento or bell pepper or one California persimmon often contain 300 milligrams of vitamin C, whereas lh cup of guavas may supply 1,000 milligrams.

Tomatoes, both fresh and canned, all salad greens, fresh strawberries, and raw cabbage average 30 to 50 milligrams per serving. Green vegetables, such as spinach, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli, may be good sources, but 50 to 90 per cent is often lost in the water in which these foods are cooked. Apples, bananas, lettuce, potatoes, and peas may supply only 20 to 30 milligrams per serving but are important sources because of the quantities eaten. Foods such as butter, cheese, eggs, all breadstuffs, and dry beans lack ascorbic acid. Milk and cooked meat other than liver contain almost none.

Climate, soil, the degree of ripeness, storage, temperatures and methods of handling, cooking, canning or freezing all affect the vitamin-C content of foods. Little ascorbic acid is destroyed when foods are quickly frozen, but losses of 90 per cent may occur within an hour after the food has thawed. The variations are so great that tables of food analysis are of little value; hence they have been omitted.

Since citrus juices are the most dependable sources of vitamin C, a glass should be drunk daily by every child and adult. It is wise to serve a fresh salad at each lunch and dinner and to have appetizers of fresh fruit on the menu frequently. Studies have shown that people living on the Pacific Coast buy three times more vitamin C on the same budget than do those on the Atlantic Coast. Even today when frozen foods are widely used, fewer vitamin-C deficiencies occur in summer and fall when fresh foods are available than in winter and spring. This deficiency is especially common among the poor of all ages and the aged of all economic groups. If care is given to the purchase and preparation of food and the planning of menus, adequate vitamin C can be obtained even when little money is available.

The changes in collagen breakdown can be swift, harmful, and hidden. For this reason, a bruise should be interpreted as a danger signal, indicating that more vitamin C should be added immediately to your diet.

Although the word vitamin was not coined until this fi century, vitamin C has been known for over 200 years; its deficiency disease, scurvy, has played a major role in history. In 1754 James Lind wrote a treatise on scurvy recommending lemon juice for its prevention or cure. Despite the fact that we live in a land of plenty and our need for this vitamin can scarcely be called news, surveys show that three-fourths of our populations receive less than the minimum daily allowance recommended by the National Research Council.

All fresh, growing foods contain vitamin C, or ascorbic acid. The richest sources are citrus fruits, guavas, ripe bell peppers and pimientos, and the seed pods of wild roses, known as rose hips. During World War II, the English extracted quantities of vitamin C from rose hips, simultaneously using hops from beer for the B vitamins; a wit remarked that England’s magnificent strength was maintained by “her hips and her hops.” Tomato juice, cabbage, and fresh strawberries are fair sources. Scurvy has resulted whenever people have been unable to get fresh foods.

One function of vitamin C is to help form and maintain a strong cement-like material, known as collagen, which holds together every cell in your body. The amount of collagen required uses about a third of all the body protein. The collagen serves much the same purpose as cement does in a brick building except that the “concrete” in a healthy body is in the form of a stiff jelly, like gristle or a tough gelatin, known as connective tissue; thus every cell in your body “reposes” in a protective bed of jelly. This connective tissue is concentrated in the cartilage, the ligaments, the walls of all the blood vessels, the base of the bones and of the developing teeth, and gives all of these structures both great strength and elasticity. Although vitamin C is necessary for the formation of this tough jelly, adequate calcium must be present before the “[el” can set.’ Calcium is not part of the structure; it merely has a stiffening effect much as pectin does. In fact, pectin is to the plant world what connective tissue is to the animal body; neither can be formed without vitamin C or be strong in the absence of adequate calcium.

Strong connective tissue plays a role of far greater importance than has heretofore been appreciated. Cell walls are only a few molecules thick; almost any harmful substance can penetrate them, whether it be virus, poisons, toxins, dangerous drugs, allergins or other foreign materials which often gain access to the body. Strong connective tissue is not easily penetrated; thus the cells are protected. An undersupply of vitamin C, however, allows this tissue to break down; a lack of calcium allows it to weaken; protective doors are flung open, and pirates are invited in.

The walls of blood vessels must be able to expand or contract, depending on the amount of blood needed at a certain place and time; hence elasticity and strength are of paramount importance. Normal blood vessels are amazingly elastic, like rubber bands. Although a partial lack of vitamin C causes changes in all blood-vessel walls, those of the capillaries, made of single cells cemented with minute quantities of connective tissues, are affected most. When a deficiency exists, therefore, the capillary walls readily break down, and blood is freed into the tissues. These tiny hemorrhages occur first in the intestinal walls, the bone marrow and joints, sometimes causing pain spoken of as “rheumatism.” When the walls break near the surface of the skin, the freed blood discolors to produce a bruise. Regardless of the severity of a blow, a bruise shows brittleness and loss of elasticity in the blood-vessel walls; it is usually the first visual evidence of a vitamin-C deficiency, especially in women and children. “Pink toothbrush” may be the first symptom in men, who bruise infrequently because their muscles are generally harder than women’s. Bruises and bleeding gums are both important danger signals. When adequate vitamin C is added to the diet, however, the capillary walls become strong within 24 hours.

A subtle lack of this vitamin causes profound changes in growing teeth. A deficiency in childhood causes slow dental growth or temporary cessation of growth. The dentin formed during a deficiency is porous and soft; if decay later penetrates the enamel, it meets little resistance; the pulp quickly becomes infected; the tooth dies and is probably lost. Experiments with labeled minerals show that when vitamin C is added to the diet of a child lacking it, normal dentin formation is resumed within a few hours.

If vitamin C is inadequate, the foundation of the bones partially breaks down, minerals are lost, the bones become rarefied and brittle and lack elasticity and strength; such bones break easily. Even when generous amounts of calcium and phosphorus are available, they cannot be deposited in the bones because the collagen base is too weak to hold them.

If vitamin C is generously added to a diet otherwise adequate and the vitamin is well absorbed, dramatic changes take place in the bones whether during childhood or advanced age. New bone foundation forms within 24 hours, and minerals, if available, are quickly laid down. Bones thus continually change; a deficiency of vitamin C during the winter, followed by generous amounts from summer fruits and vegetables, produces alternate softening and strengthening of the bones, causing them to break easily at one time and to resist fractures at another.

Gum tissue fits tightly around the base of each tooth in a healthy mouth; it does not bleed even when brushed vigorously with a stiff-bristled brush. If vitamin C is undersupplied, the gums become puffy and spongy and bleed easily. Ever-present bacteria live on the dead cells of the gum tissue, and infections such as pyorrhea pockets often develop. When such patients have the pockets cleaned out and an adequate diet is eaten, soreness and inflammation often show marked improvement in a few days. A lack of vitamin A or niacin, however, also causes susceptibility to gum infections.

In pyorrhea the gums not only bleed easily and become infected, but much bone surrounding the teeth is destroyed, causing them to become loose. When guinea pigs (used experimentally because most animals produce their own vitamin C) are kept only mildly deficient in this nutrient, a condition strikingly similar to pyorrhea develops in nine months, which is equivalent to 40 years of human life, the age when pyorrhea most frequently appears. It seems probable that a subtle undersupply of vitamin C over a period of years plays a causative role in the onset of pyorrhea. Typical pyorrhea, however, is not uncommon among malnourished children and adolescents. If the infection is not too far advanced, an entirely adequate diet unusually high in vitamin C can restore oral health.