ELECTRONS, TOXINS, AND
DISEASE
Many scientific phenomena, perhaps a majority of them, ultimately obey
or follow fairly simple laws of nature, once discovered and understood.
The scientific concepts we understand the least are often cloaked in the
most complex of language and theories. When any scientist cannot clearly
explain his or her research to a layperson unschooled in that area, there
usually exists a corresponding lack of complete understanding by that
scientist. One can research the outer layer of an onion indefinitely without
having any understanding of what is going on several layers deeper. Yet
the onion as a whole can remain a mystery even though mountains of research
data might have been generated on the outer layer.
While researching thousands of articles over the last few years in the
preparation of my latest book on vitamin C (Levy, 2002), interesting patterns
began to emerge. Even though the effects of vitamin C on over 25 different
infectious diseases and over 100 different toxins were examined, common
mechanisms of action became apparent. This was especially significant
to me since I had long wondered how a single chemical entity (ascorbate,
or vitamin C) could have such dramatically positive clinical effects on
such a wide array of completely unrelated chemical compounds and infectious
agents. Quite literally, there seemed to be no exceptions to this vitamin
C effect. Even if vitamin C did not cure a given infection or toxic state,
it always helped resolve such a condition to some degree.
Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, the brilliant scientist who won the Nobel Prize
in 1937 for his discovery of vitamin C, also advanced what I would call
a true theory of life in two of his last publications. Szent-Gyorgyi (1978,
1980) asserted that energy exchange in the body can only occur when there
is an imbalance of electrons among different molecules, assuring that
electron flow must take place. Natural electron donators give up electrons
to natural electron acceptors. Szent-Gyorgyi maintained that dead tissue
had a full complement of electrons, a state in which no further exchange
or flow of electrons could take place.
Another way of viewing this is that brisk electron flow and interchange
equals health, impaired or poor electron flow and interchange equals disease,
and cessation of flow and interchange equals death. Vitamin C, as the
premier antioxidant in the body, is perhaps the most important ongoing
electron donor to keep this electron flow at optimal levels.
Oxidation involves the loss of electrons, and an antioxidant counters
this process by supplying electrons. Although vitamin C is the most important
antioxidant in the body, there are many different antioxidants present
in the body, and many of them work to keep the more important antioxidant
substances in the body in the reduced state, which allows the donation
of electrons. For example, vitamin E is an antioxidant that is fat soluble,
which is important in allowing it to be the primary antioxidant present
in the lipid-rich cell membranes of the body. Vitamin C, which is water
soluble, helps to recharge oxidized vitamin E in those cell membranes
back to the electron-rich reduced form. Even though vitamin C is not the
primary antioxidant in the cell wall, it plays a vital role in maintaining
the optimal levels of the metabolically active antioxidant, vitamin E,
at that site.
It appears, then, that the local loss of electrons (oxidation) represents
the primary degeneration, or metabolic breakdown, of the tissue or chemical
substance losing the electrons. An antioxidant can serve to immediately
restore this loss of electrons, resulting in a prompt "repair"
of that acutely oxidized tissue. Also, an antioxidant can often neutralize
the oxidizing agent before it gets a chance to oxidize, or damage, the
tissue initially.
All of the vitamin C/toxin exposure studies reviewed showed one or more
of the following findings or consequences in the test tube, tissue,
intact animal, or human studied:
1. Decreased levels of vitamin C and other antioxidants (blood and/or
the tissues most specifically
affected)
2. Increased levels of oxidative stress in the test setting, indicating
ongoing oxidation
3. Increased liver production of vitamin C (in those species capable
of this), as an adaptive response
4. Increased rates of consumption of vitamin C and other antioxidants
5. A direct correlation between toxin activity and antioxidant levels
(lower antioxidant levels, greater clinical toxicity)
6. The acute induction of scurvy or other clinical findings consistent
with the acute depletion of vitamin C
It is important to reemphasize that the above findings were always part
of the toxin exposure situation regardless of the chemical structure
of the toxin. One conclusion that can be reached from this information
is simple, elegant, and very compelling:
All toxins poison by oxidizing enzymes and tissues.
There is also a compelling conclusion generated by this observation and
supported by the vitamin C studies found in the scientific literature:
All toxic damage can be repaired by a high enough dose
of antioxidants.
Of course, such therapy must be given in a timely fashion, before irreversible
clinical consequences have occurred in the poisoned subject.
Interestingly, infectious diseases inflict their damage in essentially
the same way as toxins. As virulent microbes grow inside a host, one or
more of the same six findings as already listed above will reliably be
observed. Basically, microbial growth is just another way to directly
cause oxidative damage to the tissues most directly involved. Some of
the most devastating infectious diseases also produce potent toxins that
further increase the oxidative damage and stress to the infected host.
Chronic disease can be viewed as a process in which the oxidative stress
proceeds at a much slower pace than is seen with acute infectious diseases
and acute toxin exposures. Vigorous antioxidant therapy goes a long way
in reversing the clinical manifestations of such diseases as well, as
long as the dose administered supplies enough electrons on a daily basis
to reverse the ongoing oxidative damage from the disease process.
Unipolar magnetic therapies probably affect electron delivery to an injured
site as well. Electricity is considered the flow of electrons. Putting
a magnetic field in motion will induce electricity. Electron flow would
appear to be intimately involved in the physical and biological effects
of magnetism. The work of Davis and Rawls (1975, 1979) established nicely
that a North pole magnetic exposure decreased inflammation and pain, while
suppressing microbial growth. The South pole had the opposite biological
effects. One possible explanation for these findings is that a North pole
magnetic field facilitates the delivery of electrons into exposed tissue,
while the South pole facilitates the transport of electrons away from
exposed tissue. Regardless, the proper use of the North pole of a strong
biomagnet closely mimics the effects of vitamin C delivered systemically.
Kulish (1999) summarizes the effects of such biomagnetic therapies nicely.
Is compromised electron flow the final common denominator in producing
the symptoms and effects of most (or all) diseases, infections, and toxin
exposures? Regardless of the answer, the vigorous and persistent dosing
of antioxidant therapy, as discussed and researched in my new vitamin
C book, appears to deliver consistently positive and dramatic clinical
outcomes.
Bibliography
Davis, A. and W. Rawls. (1975) The Magnetic Effect. Kansas
City, MO:
Acres U.S.A.
Davis, A. and W. Rawls. (1979) The Magnetic Blueprint of Life.
Kansas
City, MO: Acres U.S.A.
Kulish, P. (1999) Conquering Pain. The Art of Healing with
Biomagnetism. Fountainville, PA: Fountainville Press.
Levy, T. (2002) Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins:
Curing the
Incurable. Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris Corporation.
Szent-Gyorgyi, A. (1978) How new understandings about the biological
function of ascorbic acid may profoundly affect our lives. Executive
Health 14(8):1-4.
Szent-Gyorgyi, A. (1980) The living state and cancer. Physiological
Chemistry and Physics 12(2):99-110.
Copyright 2002 by Thomas E. Levy, M.D.,
J.D.
All Rights Reserved; Reproduction Permitted only of the
Entire Document and with Acknowledgement
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