Oral administration of vitamin C decreases muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and hampers training-induced adaptations in endurance performance
I was surprised I had not heard of this before. The atheletes were taking 1g vitamin C per day. I had heard the argument that vitamin C should not be taken every day. However, I thought people would be interested to read this paper.
Thanks. It has been known in endurance athletic circles that antioxidants in general (often included in electrolyte drinks used by athletes) taken during or immediately after endurance exercise inhibit adaptation to exercise. It was hypothesized that the impact was caused by the loss of signaling from ROS eliminated by the exogenous antioxidants. I don’t recall any certainty about the mechanism (e.g., mitochondria biogenesis). The recommendation to athletes was to rehydrate but wait to consume exogenous electrolytes.
Vitamin C is certainly one of those supplements where opinion is all over the place, from megadoses to no need for supplementation. I personally do not take it as a supplement.
One no-supplement opinion:
Vitamin C is a tough one to figure out. While low doses act like an anti-oxidant, in very high doses it acts as a powerful pro-oxidant. Its pro-oxidant property is currently being used as a cancer treatment along with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. I continue to supplement with Vitamin C with collagen power in an effort to support my soft tissue health. But I don’t know if it’s doing any good.
As with almost all supplements it is a matter of numbers. There is also the more complex issues of cycling and timing. It is very obvious that autophagy is a timing issue. It is impracticable to always be in a state when mitochondria are being chewed up and rebuilt. How long this takes matters. Can it be sorted out whilst asleep (probably I think it is an issue of hours rather than minutes or days).
Vitamin C is an interesting supplement because of its cultural importance. However, it is becoming more obvious that although a minimum is required we are best not exceeding that for any long period of time.
Exactly rights besides for the combination of high dose IVC with HBOT. HBOT induces an antioxidant environment in plasma (by increasing the plasma catalase activity). So mixing it with high dose IVC which is pro-oxidant would negate the effects of each treatment.
Nevertheless I find high dose IVC extremely beneficial as for a while after I contracted Covid I couldnt get my WBC above 2.9. With twice weekly infusion of 30g IVC with 1g magnesium (to prevent vascular spasm) for just a month , my WBC bounced to 4.4 and stayed around that range since then (for a year).
I don’t like to supplement with oral ascorbic acid because I don’t really find it effective as it takes hourly doses to even slightly raise serum levels. You can read the into studies and controversy about its oral supplementation.
I personally supplement with real oral Vitamin C derived from various fruits. I use this product and highly reccomended: Pure Radiance C® Capsules | Natural Vitamin C | Pure Synergy®
A misconception is using the term Vitamin C when in fact all supplements and IV’s are ascorbic acid. For simplicity, I just use Vitamin C interchangeably.
I have been low on WBC for some time. I don’t worry about it.
HBOT’s main function AFIAK is to stimulate HIF which is all about the reduction in partial pressure of O2 when it stops.
My wbc is normally under 3. It went up to 4 and my CRP up from under 0.15 mg/L (to 0.3) when I had some mosquito bites. I was pleased with that reaction because it shows my underlying system response at an WBC of 2.5-2.9 is sufficient to fight infection.
I would say as long as WBC are in the range of 3.1-5.5 the that should be ideal. When WBC are above 6, I would say there’s too much inflammation. I know someone who underwent a 3-4 hour surgery with wbc at 2.7 and had no problem whatsoever so I guess if it is your baseline then it should be ok.
I don’t take Rapamycin that frequently. My WBC was low before Rapamycin, but I do think Rapamycin reduces it slightly. However, my WBC are normally below 3.
I run a protocol which increases the level of nucleosolic Acetyl-CoA. The effect of this is to give cells a greater ability to generate cytosolic ROS when required. That means they can individually fight invaders rather than having to rely on the immune cells. Looking back I can see that this protocol coincided with a general reduction in WBC, but everyso often WBC goes back up probably as a result of infection. For example I had some inflammation over xmas and WBC went up as well as CRP. CRP is now down to below 0.15mg/L. I sometimes get ESR measured which is also low. (2 or 5mm/hr)
One leg of my aging hypothesis is based around a set of senescent cells arising from stem cells failing to differentiate and get stuck. These cells issue SASP including IL-6. My protocol is designed to free them up so they do move into a normal state and function as somatic cells. This has the effect of reducing SASP, IL-6 and CRP. Hence when I don’t have an externally source infection CRP is unusually low. (perhaps normal for a child, adolescent or someone in their 20s).