"The vitamin C babies were marvellous. And what was often so amazing is that many of the mothers I worked with were poverty-level individuals. A large number of them were alcoholics who ate very poorly and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't correct this problem. Nevertheless, what I found was that by supplementing them with vitamin C, they actually produced babies that were healthier than a lot of the newborns in the general community. And, as the babies were growing, they were showing fewer signs of recurrent infections and problems in infancy than other babies. To me, this has always been quite incredible. Even if we couldn't correct the diet, just the simple supplementation was doing so much good.”

The findings of these medical men provide solid validation to the ‘Lone Ranger’ work done more than 15 years ago by Fred R, Klenner, M.D., of Reidsville, N.C., the pioneering practitioner of vitamin C therapy in the United States.

Dr. Klenner closely studied 322 consecutive pregnancies over a number of years. His patients took daily oral doses of vitamin C according to the following schedule: four grams during the first trimester, six grams during the second, and from 10 to 15 grams during the last trimester.

Says Dr. Klenner: "The process of pregnancy drains ascorbic acid (vitamin C) from the mother. Stress depletes the body of vitamin C and pregnancy is a major stress factor. So the requirements of C are multiplied many times.

The human doesn't produce his own ascorbic acid, like most of the animals do. That's why he has to go out and get it. And that's why in stress situations like disease and pregnancy, it is so necessary to go into the higher doses. If you don't, you open the door to all kinds of problems and infections."

The National Academy of Sciences Food and Nutrition Board recommend daily dietary allowances of vitamins and minerals based on levels found to prevent deficiency diseases. In the case of vitamin C, deficiency is related directly to scurvy. The board's recommendation for adults is 45 milligrams daily. For pregnant women, the recommendation is 60 milligrams. If you remember your conversion tables, you know that one thousand milligrams make one gram.

It is pretty clear then that the advocates of multi-gram levels of vitamin C are operating on a level different entirely from that of the National Academy of Sciences and the medical orthodoxy that sets and follows the recommendations. The difference is precisely this: one is concerned with optimal health, the other with preventing deficiency diseases.

"In our study" says Dr. Klenner, "we found that the simple stress of pregnancy increased the ascorbic acid demand up to 15 grams daily. Compare this to the 60 milligrams recommended by the National Academy of Sciences and the disparity is shocking!

"The average pregnant woman receives a prenatal capsule that contains from 100 to 300 milligrams of vitamin C. Most obstetrician-gynaecologists don't give anything except a little old pregnancy tablet that has a little iron and mineral in it," says Dr. Klenner, "along with maybe 250 milligrams of vitamin C And that isn't nearly enough. You can prevent scurvy at that level" says Dr. Saccoman, "but it isn't sufficient to be of any benefit at the cellular level. And we do live at the cellular level. All of the cells in our body are dependent upon ascorbic acid."