Vitamin c help would healing

An article published in the March 1982 issue of Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, and Oral Pathology says that people who took vitamin C supplements after surgery recovered faster than those who did not.

Ringsdorf WM Jr and Cheraskin E reported that patients recovering from surgery, injuries, decubitus ulcers, and leg ulcers induced by hemolytic anemia who took daily dosages of 500 to 3000 mg of vitamin C experienced accelerated recovery.

The authors said vitamin C (ascorbic acid) supplementation also helped an 8-year-old boy with Type VI Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.  Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is rare and its symptoms include stretchy or fragile skin, abnormal would healing, scars that stretch over time, and flexible joints that can extend beyond the normal range leading to dislocation of the shoulder, knee, fingers, hip, wrist and collarbone.

In the boy, four grams (4000 milligrams) of vitamin C daily improved the quality of newly synthesized collagen but did not alter the collagen formed prior to the supplementation.

Humans and a small number of animals cannot produce vitamin C by themselves.  It is found high in many fruits and vegetables such as oranges and kiwi.  Vitamin C supplements are a good option for those who do not have access to high supply of fruit and vegetables.

Linus Pauling, the later two-time Nobel Prize Laurate suggested that people need to increase their intake of vitamin C as they get older.

Scientific evidence has suggested that high doses of vitamin C can help treat cancer. As a matter of fact, in some areas of the world, some alternative physicians use IV sodium ascorbate, the injected form of vitamin c, to treat cancer and result in better prognosis.

By Jimmy Downs and editing by Denise Reynolds