Updated on February 27, 2015

Vitamin C Overview

High doses of Vitamin C have been used by Dr. Cathcart and others to treat a wide range of illnesses. I’ve personally used Vitamin C in liposomal form to thwart the onset of colds and to ameliorate Chronic Fatigue body aches and malaise associated with Biotoxin Illness. Interestingly, Biotoxin gurus, Eric Johnson and Lisa Petrison, have both commented that high dose Vitamin C helped them with Biotoxin Illness. A recent video by Dr. Paul Cheney explains why this may be the case. Dr. Cheney explains that people suffering from CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) have “severe oxidative stress” resulting in the same physiological effects as when someone has scurvy – vitamin C deficiency.

The Role of Toxic Mold in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome PDF
Dr. Cheney – Vitamin C Deficiency (at 22 minutes)

As always, this information is just my account of what I’ve found useful and should in no way be taken as expert advice. In fact, you don’t have to look very hard to find plenty of institutions warning against the use of any supplements at any level other than those listed in the RDA. These are usually the same institutions that are more than happy to load you up with a cocktail of psychotropic drugs in an effort to squelch the wide range of symptoms that result due to Chronic Fatigue, Biotoxin Illness, Lyme Disease, and other highly inflammatory illnesses.
Why A Sick Body Needs So Much Vitamin C

How To Make Liposomal Vitamin C

Liposomal Vitamin C Recipe

Update February 2017
Kim G. sent me this link to Quality Liposomal C Using Alcohol that makes my method look very basic. I’ve experimented with this method and find it to be too involved and time consuming along with not liking the taste of vodka in my supplements.
End Update

1. Warm one cup of distilled water in a stainless steel pan on the stove to 110ºF – quite warm but not to the point of being able to burn. Do not in a microwave.
2. Pour the water into your blender and then add three level tablespoons of non-GMO sunflower lecithin. Allow lecithin granules soak for at least 15 minutes and then blend on low for at least one minute. The granules should completely dissolve. Note: Soy lecithin will work but there is a question as to whether non-GMO brands are truly organic.
   Swanson Sunflower Lecithin
   Nutribiotics Sodium Ascorbate
   Milk Frother
3. In one-half cup of room-temperature distilled water, dissolve one level tablespoon of sodium ascorbate. Using a milk-frothier in a colored bowel, you can easily see when the buffered ascorbic acid is dissolved – very important!
4. Add the sodium ascorbate mixture to the lecithin mixture as the blender is running on low speed and blend for 30 seconds.
5. Pour the mixture into the ultrasonic cleaner and turn it on. Stir occasionally with a plastic spoon.
   iSonic 1 Pint Ultrasonic Cleaner (8 minute timer – 2 cup)
   iSonic 2 Quart Ultrasonic Cleaner (30 minute timer – 2 quart)
6. Some cleaners will turn themselves off every 8 minutes or so. Continue to stir frequently and turn the cleaner back on until most of the foam is gone – 30 minutes or more. When done, you will have a light yellow mix that has the opacity of milk and tastes bland and a bit oily. Update: I make larger batches using the iSonic 2 Quart Ultrasonic Cleaner with its 30-minute timer. My feeling is that the oscillating sonic waves are strong enough that I don’t bother mixing the solution; I get a nice, clump-free product. Additionally, I’ve made a plexiglass holder for two Pyrex 600mL Heavy Beakers that are suspended a few millimeters off the bottom of the cleaner. This prevents microscopic metal particles from being encapsulated 🙂
7. There should be very little if any settling/clumping. Excess clumping and settling can be caused by leaving the spoon in the ultrasound, not taking the time to wait at least 15 minutes before blending, using water that is too hot, or using ascorbic acid with calcium as the buffering agent.
8. Keeps for about 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator (do not freeze).
9. According to Brooks Bradley, this should encapsulate 70% of the Vitamin C. Using this encapsulation rate along with Nutribiotics Sodium Ascorbate (4.45 grams of Vitamin C per teaspoon) mixed with Swanson Sunflower Lecithin granules, the Liposomal C Calculator indicates there is the equivalent of ~31 grams of Vitamin C in pill/powder form in each cup of Liposomal Vitamin C (~2 grams per tablespoon).

Liposomal C Dosing

• For a point of reference, you may want to consider taking Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in pill/powder form to bowel tolerance – although in liposomal form, you can exceed bowel tolerance levels when needed.
• For quick absorption, take on an empty stomach. If you have low blood sugar issues, take 5 minutes before a light snack – it’ll still be absorbed only more slowly.
• Vitamin C – Titrating to Tolerance – Dosage Chart
• Mild Cold: 30-60 grams (pill/powder form) in 6 to 10 divided doses over 24 hours
• Bad Cold: 60-100 grams (pill/powder form) in 8 to 15 divided doses over 24 hours
• 1 cup of liposomal C = 18 to 30 grams of C in pill/powder form (depends on brand)
• 1 tablespoon of liposomal C = 1.125 to 1.875 grams of C in pill/powder form
• Don’t take high doses of Vitamin C for more than 90 days
• Don’t abruptly start or stop taking high doses of Vitamin C – taper up/down

Liposomal C Calculator

The Math

After you’ve got your first batch of liposomal C mixed up, the question always arises, “How much should I take?” We’ve got the tables from Dr. Cathcart but they are for ascorbic acid in pill or powder form. We know liposomal C is much more potent, but by how much? Let’s look at the math used in the Liposomal C Calculator.

• 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
• 16 tablespoons = 1 cup
• 4 cups = 1 quart
• 8 ounces = 1 cup

An Example

To do this, we’ll assume we’ve got a mild cold and according to Dr. Cathcart’s table, we’ve decided we want to take the equivalent of 30 grams of vitamin C in liposomal form. We will mix up liposomal C using 2 cups distilled water, 1 tablespoon of Nutribiotic Ascrobic Vitamin C, and 3 tablespoons of soy lecithin. According to the table, we need to take the liposomal C in divided doses between 6 to 10 times in 24 hours. We will start out with much smaller doses and work up to the 30 grams over the course of a few days and then taper back down once we’re feeling better. Furthermore, tending toward low blood sugar, we will take our liposomal C five minutes before a light snack.

Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)

I was surprised to learn that there is quite a difference in the amount of vitamin C in one tablespoon of vitamin C powder. After all, they all contain pure ascorbic acid (no buffering agents and such) in powder form. For examples, Nutribiotic Ascorbic Vitamin C has 15 grams, NOW has 13.5 grams, and Swanson has 9 grams in a tablespoon. In the case of Nutribiotic and NOW, it lists the number of grams per ½ teaspoon on the label. In the case of Swanson, they give you a little plastic scoop that holds 1 gram and you have to count how many fit into a level tablespoon.

Volume

Now you may think that the volume for our example is 2 cups – the volume of the distilled water. However, technically we need to account for the volume of the 1 tablespoon of vitamin C powder and the 3 tablespoons of soy lecithin. I’ve seen some people add 1+3=4 tablespoons (1/4) cup of volume. However, there is a lot of air in-between the ascorbic acid crystals and soy lecithin granules. Furthermore, once they dissolve from a solid into a liquid, they have even less volume. If we estimate the actual volume added to be only 1 tablespoon, then in a two cup mix (32 tablespoons), this adds (100×1/32)= 3% more to the total volume. In other words, the volume is 33 tablespoons.

Encapsulation Rate

We need to know what percentage of ascorbic acid is encapsulated. Based upon what others are saying, the encapsulation rate is typically between 70-90% (although it could be as low as 50%). A common way that has been suggested (Pdazzler) to test this is to put 1/2 cup of liposomal C in 1.5 cup glass and then mix in 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda that has been dissolved in 1/8 cup of distilled water. The soda will react with any ascorbic acid that hasn’t been encapsulated and create foam. A lot of foam means your mix is not very potent – not much vitamin C got encapsulated. Roughly speaking, 1/2” of foam equals 50% encapsulation, 3/8” is 60%, and 1/8” is 75%. Unfortunately, the source of this information didn’t mention the diameter of the cup. Clearly, this matters. Nonetheless, you can get a general sense of how potent your liposomal C is using this test. For this example, we’ll use an 85% encapsulation rate as the higher the encapsulation rate the more conservative the recommended dosage will be.

Absorption Rates

The absorption rates typically used are between 16-20% when ingested as a pill/powder and 80% when in liposomal form. For this example, we’ll use a 16% absorption rate as the lower the absorption rate the recommended dosage will be.

Potency

The real question is for a given amount of vitamin C, how much is absorbed when taken in pill/powder form compared to when in liposomal form. To answer this, I’ll continue to work with our example. We know there are 15 grams of vitamin C in our mix and that (0.85×15)= 12.75 grams are encapsulated. Out of the 12.75 grams, (0.8×12.75)= 10.2 grams will be absorbed. In addition, of the remaining (15-12.75)= 2.25 grams that didn’t get encapsulated, (0.16×2.25)= 0.36 grams will also be absorbed for a total of 10.56 grams. In comparison, if we were to simple ingest 15 grams in pill/powder form, only (0.16×15)= 2.4 grams would be absorbed. In other words, liposomal C is (10.56/2.4)= 4.4 times more potent than vitamin C in pill/powder form.

Adding It All Up

We’re now ready to tackle the question, how much liposomal C should I drink to get the equivalent of taking 30 grams in pill/powder form. Since the liposomal C in our example if 4.4 times stronger, we only need to drink the equivalent of (30/4.4)= 6.82 grams of our liposomal C mix to take in the equivalent of 30 grams of Vitamin C in pill or powder form. Remembering that there is 15 grams in a total volume of 33 tablespoons in our mix, we calculate that this equates to (6.82×33/15)= 15 tablespoons (slightly less than 1 cup) 😎