CLL and drinking lemon juice in the Morning

[Decodes]

Hello......does anyone know if its ok to drink lemon juice in the morning with cll? I have heard that too much vit c is not good with this

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

How much lemon juice? Do you drink it neat or diluted?

It looks like you get about 50mg of vitamin C from 100g of lemon juice, which is probably considerably less than what you'd get from taking one typical vitamin C tablet, which can be anywhere from 50mg to 1000mg, with I guess 250 - 500mg being the dose per tablet people would take if they were trying to boost their vitamin C intake.

I've seen the comment about vitamin C possibly boosting the growth of CLL attributed to Dr Susan Leclair, but only second hand. While I'd like to see more definite evidence of that association between vitamin C and CLL, it is obviously good to be cautious. Provided you aren't drinking a lot of lemon juice, the amount of vitamin C you are taking is perhaps not much more than what most people would have from their normal diet, so I personally wouldn't be too concerned about it.

Neil

[Decodes in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks Neil

I read the article below and started drinking warm diluted fresh lemon juice in the morning but have developed a chesty cough......may be totally unrelated but I remembered in the back of my head someone saying that too much vit c can aggravate CLL

Thanks for your reply

foodmatters.tv/articles-1/c...

Best Wishes

Suzanne

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to Decodes]

I agree that your cough and drinking lemon juice are probably unrelated. The article you referenced is fairly generous with its claims on what lemon juice can do for you too but unfortunately the referenced source link is broken.

The latest dietary advice is that you are better off consuming the entire fruit rather than the juice, so that you get the benefit of the fibre.

[kitcat49 in reply to Decodes]

I'm not a dr. but I wonder if the ecess acid would cause irritation and thereby more mucous causing the cough...don't know..just sayin'

[shazie]

I have no clue about Vit C & Cll interaction but reading the following articles may give you some ideas. I am not suggesting to do it or not simply to educate yourself.

thealternativedaily.com/3-r...

naturalnews.com/044882_lemo...

Best way to start the day:

drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401299/...

[PaulaS Volunteer]

Suzanne, I think the caution about too much Vit C only refers to people taking big supplements of Vit C tablets. I would assume (as Neil has also said), that the natural Vit C in lemons and other citrous fruits would be fine.

Paula

[Chrisfer]

I'm just wanting to relay my own experience with cll and Vit C. The only symptom I have is a low grade cold feeling like when you're first getting a cold. If I take about 4000-6000mg a day of vit C this symptom disappears. I also do intravenous vit C about once a month. My blood counts hover around the same range now for a couple if years since diagnosis. I've read the Vit C makes it worse but for me I can't be without it. Could be placebo?? Don't care I feel great!

[Tunde_s in reply to Chrisfer]

Hi Chisfer,

This is a good story. Please can you give more details. What kind of lifestyle so you live what do you eat. What's the impact of exercising. Are you taking any other supplements. I think a healthy lifestyle can lead to better outcomes, looking for inspiration in that direction!

[shazie in reply to Chrisfer]

Hi Chrisfer. Thank you for boldly sharing your experience with us. I am interested in knowing the reason for you getting intravenous vit C? When I was diagnosed in 2012, I immediately contacted a very well respected MD who is familiar with alternative and more holistic approaches to treating any degenerative diseases including ours. He refused to offer any treatment to me (due to legal liabilities and FDA regulations in US). But, he did mentioned that if and ever I start chemo he could offer me intravenous vit C to help me better deal with fatigue and nausea. I am assuming you are not currently under any treatment so is this helping you more fight viruses? Lastly, if you live in US, I think the insurance companies do not cover the cost of any intravenous vit C. Is that correct? Again thank you for sharing. Warm regards.

[Chrisfer in reply to shazie]

Hi Shazie and Tunde, nice to read your replies. I live in Sydney Australia but it's not mainstream here to get vit C especially the iv. There are few doctors in the alternative field that administer it, but in conventional medicine, they usually look at you like you're practicing voodoo if you ask questions about it. So it's through my own relentless searching that I have come across information on the internet. Linus Pauling was a proponent of vit c in the 1960s I think and the theory behind it is that high doses delivered directly into the bloodstream, may act to increase levels of hydrogen peroxide deep in the tissues where cancer cells lurk. Peroxide-mediated killing is one of the white blood cells’ key mechanisms for fighting infection and cancer. Vit C is also considered by some to strengthen collagen in cells, so maybe this keeps viruses, bacteria at bay and prevents them from taking hold in our immune compromised systems? Again there seems to be differing schools of thought on all of this. As for me thankfully I do not need any conventional treatment as yet and I really hope I will not need it anytime soon (I'm 55yo). I try to exercise and have a good sweat at least once a day. I feel it's beneficial to raise our body temperature by exercising, kind of like mimics a fever which again hopefully makes our microenvironment hostile to pathogens. I take green tea, curcumin on and off as well as a few other supplements again sporadically. I don't know I'm kind of reading and going by my gut feel and hoping for the best. All the best for all of us!

[kitcat49]

I'ld be more concerned about the acid wear on teeth and stomach. Can't touch the stuff myself.

[MsLockYourPosts Passed Volunteer]

Interesting that both lemon juice in water and organic apple cider vinegar in water are recommended for acid reflux. Both seem to have the opposite of the expected effect on stomach acid. However those making the recommendations almost always include a warning about the effect on teeth if they are not brushed after drinking either.

[vila]

Hello everyone,

My husband was recently diagnosed with CLL due to enlarged lymph nodes in the neck and his WBC count was 20,000 at the time of diagnoses. We're waiting to get the FISH results. We have always tried to eat healthy however in the last month we're trying more and have lots of fruits and vegetables in our diet. All these have Vit C in them. Do you think you can get a large amount of Vit C (potentially harmful) just from food no supplements?

By the way this site is very helpful and has helped me keep my sanity at a time like this.

We have three young kids and to have a diagnoses like this a this time in our life is very difficult. Although I'm sure it's difficult for everybody not matter what.

I lost my brother to cancer 12 years ago ( he was 19 years old) and needles to say I really freaking out.

I wish all of you the best!!

V

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero]

Hi vila

Please don't worry about Vitamin C...this discussion goes back 10 years, when it was a fad to mega dose on VitC...

You need vitamin C to live... and the body is excellent at regulating itself... but bring it up with your GP next visit... if you still have concerns.

~chris

[vila in reply to Cllcanada]

Chris,

Thanks for the response. There are so many things we have to worry about now that one can never be sure.

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero]

Neil... here is Nick's post on Macmillian in 2012... it is also on ACOR Doctors pages with stuff from Susan and Terry Hamblin...

quote

SUSAN LECLAIR

Vitamin C does seem to stimulate lymphocyte activity - which was one of the reasons that Linus Pauling thought that it was so good in the prevention of malignancy. The flip to that, of course, is when the malignancy is in the lymphocytes and then it is not a good idea to stimulate them any further than already are.

One of the issues then is the fact that we all need vitamin C to live. So - what to do. I would stick with the printed recommended daily allowance and not go too high above that. Does that mean I don't gorge on fresh oranges when we get them? No - but I don't do it on a daily basis either.

SUSAN LECLAIR

In essence, you do have that correct. vitamin C does stimulate

the immune system and several researchers claim that too much of it

can be harmful to CLL patients. If you google vitamin C and

leukemia, you will get several hits about this. One very good

overview is

cancer.gov/newscenter/press...

Much of the work on anti-oxidants show that they have several

different pathways of action. Is it possible that one of them MIGHT

be better for patients with CLL than others? Possibly but that is

unknown at this time.

I think that most researchers would still rely on the "balanced

nutrition" rather than the skewed nutrition used by Pauling and

others. (Remember, Pauling did die of cancer.)

end quote

chris

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to Cllcanada]

Thanks Chris for tying up those loose ends. I found Nick's Macmillan quote but couldn't find the original by Dr Susan Leclair - and now I know it was because I was looking in the CLL list, not the ACOR Doctors pages.

Neil

[anaturallearner in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks Chris and AussieNeil, totally appreciate finding these posts here today.

I've got the flu and my GP (not my normal one) recommended Vit C supplements. I told her I'd been juicing fresh oranges picked off our trees (together with my dad's Aussie Limes and Tangerines) all week, but no, supplements would work much better because they much stronger and fresh fruit just doesn't work as well. I was a little speechless... and came home and started researching Vit C and CLL because well, when a doctor tells me to do something I feel compelled to check it out first (wonder why?)

So I did some digging around online. Haven't come to any conclusions yet, but I think for now I'll stick with the fresh fruit, as it seems that the blood can only hold so much Vit C (unless it's injected intravenously) which is easily achieved with a Vit C rich diet.

I did find this article (2014) citing vitamin C deficiency in patients with Binet Stage C compared with Stage A: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi.... They point out that their work "has some limitations that prevent us from drawing the conclusion that a low vitamin C blood level

leads to disease progression" and that "the reason for this deficiency remains unclear" but that it may be due to "an increased intra-cellular uptake of vitamin C by tumour cells" (citing Fain, 2004).

I did find something about CCL B cells having an increased concentration of Vit C compared to normal B cells here: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....

Before today I didn't really have much of an idea of how Vit C works in the body to do what it does. I am slightly more educated. And still wishing I'd studied biology at high school instead of chemistry and physics (which I failed anyway).

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to anaturallearner]

Thanks for the vitamin C/leukaemia research references. Shows how much we still don't know...

[Lola69]

Lemon juice causes anemia

[Dawn-Marie]

We need vit c. I take a small does with zinc everyday. Vit c is water soluble so we excreat what not used. I feel more comfortable taking Vit c to keep the colds away.

[Vlaminck]

Just stumbled on these articles. Fairly new CLL patient but had never heard of negative affects of Vit C. Did some googling, and found this:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...