Vitamin C Solo Show | Mitolife Radio Ep #196

SUMMARY KEYWORDS
ascorbic acid, vitamin c, ascorbate, supplements, vitamin e, tyrosine hydroxylase, vitamin, protect, form, loh, called, copper, redox, dopamine, emfs, doris, dental health, complex, people, incredible

Matthew Blackburn  00:18
You're listening to Episode 196 of Mito Life Radio. I'm your host, Matt Blackburn and today I'm talking about Vitamin C. This has become a hot topic as of late, because there is a large movement towards whole food vitamin C. And I was a part of that it's very convincing as a lot of fear based mentalities are. And the basic idea is that because ascorbic acid is a part of quote, whole food vitamin C complex, it is missing components, that it will rob from your body to complete itself, such as copper, bioflavonoids, etc. And then the story goes, if you take ascorbic acid for several years, over time, you're going to decrease your body's ability to utilize oxygen by causing copper depletion. So all of that sounds super convincing to me. I bought it, hook line and sinker for several years. And hundreds if not 1000s of practitioners are now saying this. It's in social media posts, it's in podcast titles, this has actually become mainstream, this idea of whole food vitamin C, being superior to the supposed toxic ascorbic acid, and a big part of this whole food vitamin C argument hinges upon this copper containing enzyme called tyrosinase. And tyrosinase is involved in the production of melanin, which is responsible for the pigmentation of skin, hair and eyes, as well as protecting against ultraviolet induced damage. And the whole food vitamin C argument is that ascorbic acid will decrease the function of tyrosinase. But is that actually true? So there's a researcher named Doris Loh that has been writing about this exact topic since 2019. And I'm going to read a passage from an article she wrote on ascorbic acid versus whole food vitamin C. "As a matter of fact, ascorbic acid not only does not inhibit tyrosinase, it actually has been found to stimulate tyrosinase activity and enhance the expression of tyrosine kinase. Why is this important? When tyrosine hydroxylase is not functioning or is deficient, tyrosinase has been observed to act as an alternative pathway to supply catecholamines. Of course, ascorbic acid is also indispensable in catecholamine synthesis. For example, when our bodies make catecholamines like dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine. Scientists found that ascorbic acid is used as an electron donor in these processes. Note: Ascorbic acid is used and not Whole Foods C. Ascorbic acid regenerates dopamine beta hydroxylase in the production of dopamine, but the really important part played by ascorbic acid and catecholamine synthesis is its effect on tyrosine hydroxylase, which is the rate limiting step and catecholamine synthesis. Ascorbic acid has been found to enhance the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase and is also responsible for the regeneration of BH4, Tetrahydrobiopterin, which is used by tyrosine hydroxylase to convert tyrosine into dopa, the precursor to dopamine by providing electrons to dopamine beta hydroxylase ascorbic acid also facilitates the production of norepinephrine. Even though ascorbic acid enhances and stimulates both tyrosinase and tyrosine hydroxylase, it does not make tyrosinase part of a complex called vitamin C. This would apply to Factor P, ascorbigen and all the other elements that are supposed to be a part of this fabricated complex. Ascorbigen is a type of polyphenyl that is found in Nebraska vegetables. Ascorbigen is a metabolite that is derived from L-ascorbic acid. Not all plants produce ascorbigen. To say that ascorbigen forms the second circle of the whole foods C complex shows ignorance on the part of its creator." So that quote was from the amazing Doris Loh, that is not just a blog post writer, but has actually published peer reviewed papers, especially on the power of melatonin, in the context of COVID. And on that topic, if I would have known this information, about five or six months ago, I would have had a lot easier time when I experienced COVID. But I only use whole food vitamin C, I did not use any ascorbic acid. And it took me a while to recover. And I truly think it wasn't until I introduced ascorbic acid in my body, that I started to work to decrease the long COVID, which I definitely had. And that's normally when people talk about vitamin C, which was originally called Hexaronic acid. They talk about it in the context of immune health. But as you just heard, that quote from Doris Loh, ascorbic acid is involved in so much more. In excess of dopamine leads to psychosis, OCD, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, all sorts of neurological problems. And what limits the conversion of dopamine into norepinephrine, and epinephrine / adrenaline is ascorbic acid. And it does that via tyrosine hydroxylase, and dopamine, beta-hydroxylase. So without ascorbic acid, you get stuck at that dopamine step, and it doesn't get converted. And a good analogy I'd like to use is tryptophan to serotonin to melatonin. So amino acids convert into our neurotransmitters. And in the case of melatonin, the first step is L-tryptophan. And then that is converted into serotonin, which is then converted to melatonin. But if you have EMFs, you have blue light, which is a form of EMFs artificial blue light at night, that will prevent the conversion of serotonin to melatonin. And think of this in the same way, if you're deficient in ascorbic acid, and you've had dopamine excess chronically for a long time, whole food vitamin C is not going to get the job done, there's not enough ascorbic acid in it, you would have to take tons of the powder to make a difference. ascorbic acid is the star of the show those two copper atoms that are in whole food vitamin C, are not significant enough to make a difference. It doesn't make Whole Foods see toxic or useless. It's just not a reliable source of ascorbic acid. If you're using it for other things, which it's credible for with the bioflavonoids therapy, then great, but if you're using it for ascorbic acid, I would just take ascorbic acid itself. Besides ascorbic acids role in dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, ascorbic acid is also involved in protecting us against electromagnetic radiation. 5G has been a hot topic for several years and EMF damage is real. A lot of people will say there's no research on it. I've had a few shows on it one with Daniel DeBaun of DefenderShield. There is Martin Paul on YouTube, great lectures from him on electromagnetic radiation and the damage that that does to human physiology, and even plants. It affects all life in a detrimental way. And there are various mitigation strategies. As far as devices, there's Blue Shield, Somavedic, I use both of them here in my house. There's EMF blocking clothing, I love No Choice, that brand is incredible with what they're coming up with. And if I'm traveling, if I'm going to be in an EMF environment, all day long that I definitely cover up with silver threads that floating ground so the EMFs don't go through me, they go around me with the clothing. There's Blue Blocking Glasses at my favorites on my website, and that protects your eyes from the EMF known as blue wavelength light. But as far as nutritional, not a lot of people talk about that even the companies that are selling magnesium products, magnesium does so many things, we need it to make cellular energy. But we also need it to protect ourselves from voltage gated calcium channels opening. So magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker. But there's another aspect to this nutrition piece with EMFs. And that is vitamin C. So Doris Loh and I wont make this a whole commercial about her but I just want to credit that incredible pioneer for her work, because she's connected a lot of dots for me, and she was the impetus for me to delve into this research on ascorbic acid. She has a blog post called, "Vitamin C and Mitochondria Redox In A 5G World" And what she emphasizes is that EMFs lower our redox potential, which stands for reduction, oxidation. And ascorbic acid is a redox balancer. So that's much different from thinking about it in terms of just an antioxidant, or even a pro oxidant. If you think about it in terms of redox, which has to do with millivolts. And electricity, it changes the whole conversation of how we talk about vitamin C / ascorbic acid, because now it's actually protecting us from EMFs. And if you have ascorbic acid coming in, and magnesium, you're really protecting yourself nutritionally. And of course, we need all of the nutrients. But these two are my top currently that I think of if I'm going to be staying in a hotel, or I'm in a big city for a while, I really make sure to keep up on my ascorbic acid and my magnesium intake. So I'll post that article below. And then there's another one that's called, "Is Vitamin C The Ultimate Quantum Interface?" And I'm not smart enough right now to understand the implications of everything she writes there. But she says ascorbate is a refrigerant, it will depolarize light and render the incoming photons decoherent. You can think of ascorbate as the first interface where incoming photons signals are being decoded before secondary interfaces receive and act upon those quantum signals. So I used to be very into light, I used to do ice baths, naked at solar noon, grounded and definitely gave me a buzz. And there's definitely something to all of that. But I think there's also a lot going on, nutritionally, that a lot of people have no idea about. And this ascorbic acid photon light connection is a very deep rabbit hole that I have not had time to go into. But I definitely plan to. If you've been following this whole whole food vitamin C train, then you must be familiar with ceruloplasmin, which is sometimes called bioavailable copper. And we're supposed to do everything in our power to protect it, both its level and its activity. And some say even more so its activity. So I want to delve into that for a minute as it relates to ascorbic acid. And I will post the article by Doris Loh, below, for this, which is well researched. That's what I love about her work. It's not just a blog post with no references. And this one, there's nine clinical references. So, I will try to summarize it as best as I can, because it is very dense information. So ceruloplasmin has a higher reduction potential than ascorbate. So ceruloplasmin between plus 490 millivolts to 580 millivolts and ascorbate is 282 millivolts. So quite a bit lower. And that means that ceruloplasmin is the one that destroys vitamin C, not the other way around. Doris says in this article, "The use of oral contraceptives raises serum ceruloplasmin creating prooxidant effects that result in a reduction of not only ascorbic acid, but also the reduction of epinephrine, melatonin, serotonin and other amiens. This reduction of important neuronal substrates is the reason why excess ceruloplasmin is linked to neurodegenerative diseases, as well as other neurological disorders, including schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorders." And then later down in the article, she says, "Ceruloplasmin is found in all mammals and birds, whereas ascorbate oxidase are found in higher plants. They are both blue oxidases that are believed to have evolved from a common ancestral gene. For the longest time the biological role of ascorbate oxidase was not clear, but it is understood to be responsible for the oxidation of ascorbate. Scientists could not understand why ascorbic acid being produced by plants for protection would need ascorbate oxidase which oxidizes ascorbate. In 2013, a study was published explaining the discordant oxidase actually has the role of modulating both ascorbate and oxygen content, thereby regulating the redox balance and extracellular matrix in plants, in a fashion not dissimilar to the mechanism of polio hydroxylases / hypoxia inducible factors in animals." So I wanted to give you guys this side of the story because often we know what happens when we only hear one side of the story. We become biased, we believe things that are not true. And such as the case with copper ceruloplasmin and vitamin C. I would imagine most people that are in the whole food vitamin C camp, have no idea about any of this. So a good question to ask your friendly neighborhood, whole food vitamin C advocate is this, "Is there any benefit in the reduction of cupric oxide to cuprous oxide by ascorbate?" The answer to that is, Yes. The glutathione copper one complex is responsible for the transfer of copper into enzyme active sites. That study is called interaction of copper with cysteine stability of cuprous complexes, and catalytic role of cupric ions in anaerobic thiel oxidation. Rego et al. (2004) Ascorbate, which, by the way, is a metabolite of ascorbic acid is crucial in the absorption of copper in our intestines. So I hope you're starting to see the other side of the story that doesn't paint ascorbic acid is this evil copper ceruloplasmin destroyer, but actually as a critical protector of our health. Another aspect of ascorbic acid and ascorbic acid supplementation benefits includes improved dental health. So I've noticed that most older people have pretty severe receding gums. And they say it's just a natural consequence of aging, which I don't subscribe to. I think it's vitamin C deficiency, partly as well as vitamin E deficiency. So I found the study called, "The Effective Controlled Ascorbic Acid Depletion and Supplementation on Periodontal Health" This is Leggott 1985 and it says, "Ascorbate concentrations and body fluids and leukocytes responded rapidly to changes and ascorbic acid intake. Measures of gingival inflammation were directly related to the ascorbic acid status. Ascorbic acid may influence early stages of gingivitis, particularly crevicular bleeding." As a tobacco enjoyer, a cigar enjoyer, I have studied dental health in relation to smoking. And unless someone has incredible genetics, the gums will generally deteriorate faster, and their overall dental health because of the oxidative stress of having smoke in the mouth, even if it's not coming into the lungs. And if you just do a Dr.Google search for vitamin E, ascorbic acid smoking, you'll find tons of research on the benefits of supplementing ascorbic acid and vitamin E to protect, not only smokers dental health but their overall health. So there's this really incredible connection between vitamin C and vitamin E. So I'd like to read this abstract From the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1987, "Vitamin C and E function as water soluble and lipid soluble, chain breaking antioxidants and protect lipids, proteins and membranes from oxidative damage. Vitamin C scavenges oxygen radicals and the aqueous phase, whereas Vitamin E scavenges oxygen radicals within the membranes. Vitamin C regenerates vitamin E by reducing vitamin E radicals formed when vitamin E scavenges the oxygen radicals. This interaction between vitamin C and vitamin E radicals can take place, not only in homogeneous solutions, but also in liposomal membrane systems where vitamin C and E reside separately outside and within the membranes respectively. And vitamin C can act as a synergist." So you need ascorbic acid to benefit from vitamin E supplementation. Oregon State University said, "Supplementation with ascorbic acid for two weeks effectively reduced the elevated plasma alpha and gamma tocopherol disappearance rate observed in cigarette smokers." So if you know anyone smoking anything, whether it's cannabis or tobacco, they definitely should be supplementing with ascorbic acid, and with vitamin E, and that would protect not only their dental health, but their overall health as well. So just a few more things here in this crash course episode on vitamin C, you guys have probably heard me talk quite a bit about lipid peroxidation and vitamin E 's role in protecting against that. Turns out that vitamin E, and its ability to reduce lipid peroxidation is only as good as the presence of ascorbate. And that is because when vitamin E sacrifices itself, it forms the tocopheroxal radical, and that will act prooxidatively and less ascorbate reduces it. So vitamin C and vitamin E are really joined at the hip, and they work together. And as far as iron, which is a whole big subject. With regards to ascorbic acid, ascorbic acid actually reduces ferric iron, Fe3+ to the ferrous form of iron Fe2+, what that does is that changes the iron into a form that's soluble in the alkaline environment of the small intestine, resulting in increased enteric absorption of iron. So nonheme form of iron, which is most of the iron supplements you'll find out there will be blocked if you take an iron supplement by polyphenols, phytates and phosphates. So if you drink coffee and take your iron supplement, you'll absorb way less of it. But that can actually be overcome if you consume ascorbic acid at the same time. Little caveat there, I don't recommend taking a gram of ascorbic acid with your coffee. That's way too much acid and I've had some bad results from that not bathroom runs but just very harsh reaction in my gut from combining coffee with ascorbic acid, so I recommend taking them separately. But ascorbic acid could also help heme iron. And it does that by increasing its incorporation into the storage form of iron, ferritin. So whether you're doing heme, or non heme foods or supplements, ascorbic acid can help you with both. So there's a little intro crash course into vitamin C, what may be changed my mind about it. As we wrap up here, I'm just going to talk about my personal experiences with it. I had never taken ascorbic acid when I got into health regularly, I just didn't think it was a big deal. I thought I could just eat fruit and get all the ascorbic acid that I needed. But there are so many variables, even genetic. On my SelfDecode, I always search around for different genes that I find. And with regards to vitamin C, you have your sodium dependent transporters called SVCT's and glucose transporters, glute, GLUT, and vitamin C is transferred to the cells with both of those. And what's cool about SelfDecode is you can just type into the search and search whatever gene you want to look at, and they have a lot of them on there. And then see where you have bad copies or altered copies. And I had mutations in both sodium transporters, the one and two. And just simply you could search vitamin C on there, and it will say typical need or higher need or lower need. And so that's good to know as well, in the context of this whole vitamin C discussion. I think genetics are really important to look at, so here's some homework for you, if you ended up purchasing a SelfDecode membership, after you heard the podcast, I did the Joe Cohen, search this one up. It's SLC23A1. And when I scroll down the summary is, "The gene codes for a protein solute carrier family 23, member one. It is one of the two transporters that aids with the absorption of vitamin C into the body and the distribution of it to the organs, requiring two sodium dependent vitamin C transporters." And half of mine 10 out of 20 are altered. And it doesn't mean bad, could mean good. But when you look at alternative allele, if it says this allele is found in your genotype, then that means that there is a mutation there and to have half or three quarters for one gene is significant is worth looking at. So my experience with ascorbic acid has been really positive. I've been taking it every hour when I could remember some days I'll take a break or only take a gram or two. But every day it takes at least one to 2000 milligrams. And if I'm home all day, and working around the house, or if I leave the house, I'll bring a bottle of ascorbic acid with me. And when you're driving, that's a great time to take ascorbic acid. And if you've done an iron panel, and you have low ferritin, you know, especially single digits below 30. That's definite iron deficiency. But even below 100 could be iron deficiency. low saturation percent, you know your iron deficient, then you could take your iron with your ascorbic acid while you're driving since you're on an empty stomach anyway, especially if it's a long commute. With supplements, it's all about timing. With the Dissolve-it-all the systemic enzymes, those are great to keep in your purse or your backpack and just have it with you. That way, you're more likely to take it than if you just leave it at home. And you could take them and put them into Ziploc bags and write on them, that's another option. But supplements don't work unless you take them. So I'm a big fan of bringing a bag with you and taking your supplements on the go. In the past couple of weeks, I have had two vitamin C infusions, intravenous infusions, and these have become really popular in the biohacking space. A lot of people are getting these at conferences and getting the Myers cocktail, which is essentially vitamin C and B vitamins, minerals. I think it's great. I think it's very helpful. You definitely want to have the nutritional foundation down, you know eating in a balanced way you're not restricting carbohydrates, or animal protein, and you're taking good supplements, high quality supplements, then I think the IV infusions can be really helpful. So today actually had my first 25 gram vitamin C infusion. And that's what's called high dose vitamin C. And this was in the form of ascorbic acid. So a lot of places will use sodium ascorbate, which is the buffered form, which Doris Loh talks about, is not having the same redox properties as AA does, ascorbic acid. So if you're going to get an infusion, I would ask and it's not that buffered, vitamin C is useless. I am convinced that ascorbic acid is better at this point. So in wrapping up the show a little disclaimer, I sell a vitamin C supplement. That's right, while I was changing my mind about vitamin C, I was selling a vitamin C supplement. But it wasn't ascorbic acid. It was whole food vitamin C. So I actually had a financial incentive to not change my mind because it cuts into my margins. But I did it anyway, because I learned new information and it made sense to me. And I applied it to my body and my life. And it made a difference. As I said earlier, whole food vitamin C, like my resiliency product that I have. It's not useless. There's a bioflavonoid in it called Rutan, which attaches to iron and prevents it from causing the Fenton reaction. It also decreases capillary permeability, making the capillaries less leaky and improving circulation. I often get asked about varicose veins and that bioflavonoid Rutan, it's called a vaso protective meaning it protects blood vessels, really helpful for varicose veins as well as many other issues hemorrhoids. And it's also neuroprotective, paddle protective, antihypertensive, internal sunscreen, immunomodulator. So again, hopefully vitamin C, which has bioflavonoids and other good stuff in it, it's not useless, you could put it in your smoothie. If someone doesn't want to take isolates because of some philosophical belief about isolated supplements, then that's fine. whole food vitamin C is a great option. Just know that if you want to get the ascorbic acid from it, you're going to have to take a lot of it. And a little teaser, I am coming out with my own ascorbic acid vitamin C supplement, which will be ascorbic acid with the bioflavonoid complex. And that will be out within the next week. So look forward to that. Once again vitamin C and vitamin E sorbic acid and vitamin E are joined at the hip. They work together synergistically and have incredible effects on the body. Now the NAD power is on close out that is the D3 Niacinamide supplements so it's actually 50% off. So it's cheapest, you can get it anywhere on the internet. And as of posting this show, there should be few 100 bottles left. So if you want to head over and check that out, the formula is getting upgraded. So that was version one, version two is forthcoming. If you want to check out all the products, you can go to mitolife.co. A lot of really exciting stuff in the works, the oyster is going to be back any day now. The vitamin K2 will be back in about a week. And the undercounter revolutionary Mito Life Drinking Water Filter will be released by the end of the year. So I really appreciate you guys that helped to share the message of Mito Life and share these high quality supplements that I put a lot of time into my website is matt-blackburn.com. I have all of my recommended products up there. The latest one is Peat Moss Comforters and toppers. So I used bamboo comforters for the last several years. And I really didn't like the temperature properties to it. It just didn't seem to keep me warm on a really cold night in the winter or if it was the summer. I really cooked under it. And switching to these Peat Moss Comforters has just been incredible. They're made in Germany, and the peat fiber originates from Scandinavia. And the owner has really interesting information there on the website on Gaiaheartworkz about the benefits of peat moss, peat moss actually converts shortwave radiation into beneficial long waves. So on his site, he says peat moss helps to protect us against EMFs and electric radiation. So it's pretty cool. I definitely feel it. It's definitely a huge upgrade from the bamboo comforter. So that's it, thank you guys for listening. I know a lot of you appreciate my solo shows. And a lot of people were wondering why I changed my mind on the vitamin C. In closing, I just want to encourage those of you that have an audience, maybe you have a brand you have a book you have a podcast, that it's okay to change your mind. Because the crab in the pot phenomenon is real. The cult mentality is real. The crabs trying to pull the one back in that's trying to crawl out and escape the echo chamber. It's okay to change your mind and it's okay to announce that you were wrong. You'll get the messages as I have, that you're a flip flopper, you change your mind too much, you're unstable, you're always changing. That's called being a human. The human experience is evolution. It is constant improvement. It is changing our mind based on new information and thus changing how we live our life. There's nothing wrong with that. You'd be taking the best supplements in the world eating the cleanest diet. But if you're stagnating, if you're not improving your beliefs, your behavior, your life over the years, then you are dying faster and all the other stuff doesn't matter. So, for those of you that are evolving with me, I say cheers and stay supercharged.