Mar 31 2020
Q: This is from someone I admire: “For the past month-plus, in a personal pro bono project, I’ve been intensively researching the medical/scientific literature and talking to doctors about a complementary, demand-side approach to the pandemic—making ourselves less hospitable to the virus. The result is this pair of new writings coauthored with a distinguished physician and epidemic expert: The op-ed and The user's guide “
Any sense in it?
A: I endorse most of these common sense approaches “eight standard immune-boosting methods: sleep, calm/hope/de-stressing (yes, meditation may help prevent colds), nutrition, exercise, and reducing alcohol (an immune suppressant). Next, add hydration, nontoxicity (Dr. Why: Not sure what that means but I endorse), and physiological balance”, with an exception of alcohol: I am not giving up my two glasses of wine a day!
Re: Vitamin C
The vitamin C issue is being tirelessly raised as a way to treat almost any disease since its discovery in 1912. I would think 108 years are enough to conduct trials and figure this out. The truth is: there is no high quality evidence that it works for anything other than scurvy - disease caused by vitamin C deficiency . The rest of the evidence is very “soft”, at best.
Interestingly enough, if we believe in vitamin C “powers”, you are the best protected of all: you have been taking vitamin C for the last 9 years because:
I recommended vitamin C to you based on “soft” evidence that it may be helping to strengthen aortic wall in people with aortic dilatation when given alongside of Losartan - a drug we discussed yesterday, and
Because you have the best doctor of all! He also let’s you drink! Just kidding!
To finish on a serious note: high dose (10 gram IV daily) of vitamin C was used to treat viral pneumonia at the time I was in training in early 80s. The premise was that viruses affect integrity of blood vessels wall, hence vitamin C might help as it does in scurvy, where blood vessels are literally leaking due to vitamin C deficiency.
You may ask, what would I do for a patient of mine, or a loved one with viral pneumonia: I will use vitamin C as I was taught but I would not “hang my hat on it” and will not profess that this is a panacea or there is an iron clad data to support its use.
I would do it on the same basis as was explained by the POTUS when he promoted hydrochloroquine - “what do we have to lose”. For (my) transcript of his pitch refer to my blog .
If you read the first two paragraphs of that blog and become convinced that the drug he is promoting “is a good thing” then I will support it too! Hahaha!