Dr. Pierce's Tip of the Week - Archive

Specific Toxins and Vitamin C: Alcohol (Ethanol)
June 16, 2004

An Excerpt from Tom Levy's "Vitmain C: Infectious Diseases and Toxins"

As most people know, alcohol in excel is clearly a toxin. The toxicity level of smaller amounts continues to be debated. As with so many other toxins, the liver is the main site of alcohol neutralization/metabolism when a toxic dose of alcohol is encountered.

Susick and Zannoni (1987) looked at the effects of vitamin C on the consequences of acute alcohol consumption in humans. Vitamin C or a placebo was given to 20 male subjects for two weeks prior to alcohol consumption. The subjects who received the vitamin C demonstrated improved motor coordination and color discrimination, which is evidence of a lessened alcohol toxicity. The vitamin C also resulted in a significant enhancement in the elimination of alcohol from the blood. Klenner (1971) asserted that 40,000 mg of vitamin C given intravenously along with vitamin B1 will neutralize the effects of alcohol in an intoxicated person. Klenner also asserted that the same treatment would save the life of a person unfortunate enough to drink a significant amount of alcohol after taking Antibuse (disulfiram). This drug, used to make alcoholics feel sick after drinking in order to break their habit, can also kill. It prevents alcohol from being completely metabolized, which results in high concentrations of acetaldehyde in the body. Vitamin C detoxifies the acetaldehyde.

Meagher et al. (1999) showed that alcohol ingestion in healthy humans increases oxidative stress as indicated by an increase in the products of lipid peroxidation (LPO). They also showed that the same abnormal laboratory indicators of oxidative stress were already significantly elevated in patients with alcohol-induced hepatitis or chronic liver disease in the absence of additional acute alcohol intake. Finally, they were able to show that vitamin C was able to reduce abnormal elevations of oxidative stress in patients who already had chronic alcoholic liver disease. They concluded that oxidative stress, which was significantly lowered by vitamin C, preceded and contributed to the evolution of alcoholic liver disease.

Acute and chronic alcohol consumption in humans takes a serious toll in both morbidity and mortality. Zannoni et al. (1987) wrote a review article clearly demonstrating that adequately dosed vitamin C is the best way to detoxify alcohol, prevent future alcohol-induced damage, and repair past alcohol-induced damage. Pawan (1968) provides an example of a study contesting the ability of vitamin C to accelerate the ethanol clearance rate in man. As is so often the case, however, the vitamin C dosage is tiny. Pawan reported that 600 mg of vitamin C given acutely had no influence on ethanol clearance rates. It is unlikely that 600 mg of vitamin C could seriously affect the clinical status of virtually any form of significant toxicity in an adult human, unless some of the symptoms related to a toxin-induced scurvy. The cumulative research on ethanol and vitamin C indicates that vitamin C can definitely lessen much of the damage done to the body by alcohol, especially in the liver. Furthermore, studies looking at acute alcohol exposure and vitamin C indicate that a high dosing of vitamin C, rather than hot coffee and forced ambulation, is the best and quickest way to metabolize alcohol and sober someone up. Obviously the best was to deal with transporting an acutely intoxicated individual is through the use of a designated driver.

Visit our members section and listen to this months audio interview with Tom Levy as he delves further into the health benefits of Vitamin C.

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