Cathcart Bowel Tolerance

INTRODUCTION

Over the past ten-year period I have treated over 9,000 patients with large doses of vitamin C (Cathcart 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The effects of this substance when used in adequate amounts markedly alters the course of many diseases. Stressful conditions of any kind greatly increase utilization of vitamin C. Ascorbate excreted in the urine drops markedly with stresses of any magnitude unless vitamin C is provided in large amounts. However, a more convenient and clinically useful measure of ascorbate need and presumably utilization is the BOWEL TOLERANCE. The amount of ascorbic acid which can be taken orally without causing diarrhea when a person is ill sometimes is over ten times the amount he would tolerate if well. This increased bowel tolerance phenomenon served not only to indicate the amount which should be taken but indicates the unsuspected and astonishing magnitude of the potential use that the body has for ascorbate under stressful conditions.

If this massive draw on the small ascorbate stores of the body is not fully satisfied, the condition of ANASCORBEMIA results. The deficit of ascorbate a probably starts in the tissues directly involved in the disease and then spreads to other tissues of the body. A condition of localized and then systemic acute scurvy is produced. This ACUTE INDUCED SCURVY leads to poor healing and ultimately to complications involving other systems of the body.

Much of the original work with large amounts of vitamin C was done by Fred R. Klenner, M.D. (6, 7, 8, 9) of Reidsville, North Carolina. Klenner found that viral diseases could be cured by intravenous sodium ascorbate in amounts up to 200 grams per 24 hours. Irvin Stone (10, 11, 12) pointed out the potential of vitamin C in the treatment of many diseases, the inability of humans to synthesize ascorbate, and the resultant condition hypoascorbemia. Linus Pauling (13, 14) reviewed the literature on vitamin C and has led the crusade to make known its medical uses to the public and the medical profession. Ewan Cameron in association with Pauling (15, 16, 17) has shown the usefulness of ascorbate in the treatment of cancer.

BOWEL ... BEGINNING