Vitamin C Kills Bacteria Drugs Can’t: Study

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 02:35 PM, By Charlotte Libov

This information can apply to Lyme and other infections as well.

A groundbreaking new study showing that vitamin C can kill drug-resistant tuberculosis could pave the way for the nutrient to go into widespread use as an effective defense against many diseases, says a top holistic physician.

“Vitamin C fell out of favor when antibiotics came in, but this study shows the potential of using vitamin C to kill infection,” David Brownstein, M.D., told Newsmax Health.

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University reported they had discovered that vitamin C kills drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria, a finding that could lead to future disease-fighting applications.

Scientists made the discovery when they were experimenting to learn how TB bacteria become resistant to isoniazid, a first-line TB drug. When pairing the drug with vitamin C they discovered they had killed the bacteria. In doing subsequent experiments, researchers reported in the journal Nature Communications that the vitamin killed off the TB bacteria by itself without the drug.

An estimated 650,000 people worldwide have multi-drug-resistant TB. Based on this study, which showed vitamin C’s effectiveness in the lab, researchers say they next want to test it in the real world. The Einstein College scientists noted that vitamin C is inexpensive, widely available, safe.

Dr. Brownstein said that researchers have generally not taken vitamin C seriously as a disease fighter, but that may now change. “There’s a track record of vitamin C effectively treating diseases like measles as well as pertussis (whooping cough),” said Dr. Brownstein, author of the newsletter Natural Way to Health.
Vitamin C is superior to antibiotics because the nutrient marshals the body’s natural resources to fight off infection, Dr. Brownstein said. Also, he added, “If you look at the history of vitamin C I don’t know of one infectious organism that has grown resistant to it.”

Drug resistance, on the other hand, has emerged as a worldwide problem.  Another new study of vitamin C showed that high doses may stop cancer. Researchers at Cancer Treatment Centers of America reported they had recently completed a trial in which intravenous vitamin C inhibited tumor growth in mice.

IV injection of vitamin C is used in alternative medical centers to treat cancer and other disease but it is generally not recognized by mainstream medicine as an effective treatment.


“Again, the results of this new cancer study does not surprise me because we use vitamin C both orally and intravenously in the fight against many types of disease, including cancer,” Dr. Brownstein said.
He generally recommends 3,000-5,000 mgs a day of supplemental vitamin C to maintain good health.

© 2013 NewsmaxHealth. All rights reserved.