The authors are not proposing a new RDA but suggesting that intake can be ultimately derived using rigorous methods.
The authors end the book with a challenge:
"We can find no scientific or even rational reasons for the current RDA values. The published justifications show clear and unambiguous bias. This bias could arise from peer pressure, ignorance, or corruption. We prefer the explanation that the people setting the RDA are honest and competent professionals, who were acting on a misleading and incorrect interpretation of the available data. If we are correct about the origin of the bias, we should expect them to be willing to review their current proposals. If the RDA recommendations are genuine, they should be defended in open scientific debate. As far as we can see, the reluctance to engage in open discussion with independent nutritional scientists suggests that the RDA is not scientifically viable."...
For those who should like to download and print it I high recommend:
Software recommendation to save the environment.
The entire book can be printed on 16 pages (8 pages double sided). The print size is similar to that of pocket book.
"This book follows the publication of “Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C” by the same authors. The Ascorbate book provides a synthesis of the current science on vitamin C and presents some new ideas, including the dynamic flow model. In the process, it brings into focus the ideas and experimental basis underlying the RDA. Since this account is supplementary to the Ascorbate book, the original references and full arguments are not presented here. Interested readers are encouraged to examine the background in more detail in the original book." This insightful book is at the forefront of scientific literature and is a must read. CG
Just to demonstrate, the value of nutrients, I have extracted a remarkable example of just one nutrient. Such a dramatic effect from this non toxic and inexpensive substance is a nightmare for the pharma Mafia! It is no wonder that they, along with their medical cronies, are running scared. It has been abundantly clear form time eternal that the building blocks for good health is nutrition. Proported magical and toxic substances (pills) cannot fill the prime requirments for health.
Note: the original includes copious references that have been omitted.
Chris Gupta
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/12/15/an_open_challenge_to_the_ridiculous_dietary_allowance_rda.htm
..."The reported action of ascorbate on the retinal blood vessels is both striking and quantifiable. It is similar to the action of epinephrine, and suggests an important effect of high dose ascorbate on the cardiovascular system.
Initial retinal image from subject showing indications of mild
inflammation note small aneurisms in the centre right of the image.
Retina following oral megadose ascorbate for one week,
showing improvement to the microvasculature.
This first image of the retina shows retinal blood vessels before
administration of ascorbate. Note the degree of blood vessel
swelling.
After only one week of megadose vitamin C, the previously
enlarged blood vessels have constricted, producing an improved
appearance to the retina. Compare the aneurisms, or small
swellings in the blood vessels, with those in the original image.
1000 patients attending his eye clinic. In retinal examination, he successfully imaged the small blood vessels, which provide a window on the state of the vasculature within the body. Changes and microaneurisms in blood vessels are suggestive of hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular disease. In particular, the ratio of arteriolar to venular diameter may be used as an indicator of pathological processes. Narrowed retinal arterioles are associated with a long-term risk of hypertension, suggesting that structural alterations of the microvasculature may be linked to the development of hypertension. Bush found reductions of blood vessel lumen, congestion and increased blood in the tissue, called hyperaemia, in almost every apparently normal adult subject he examined. He generated the theory that scurvy was leading to blood vessel damage. He made a preliminary redefinition of scurvy as:
“any state in which supplemental vitamin C improves the pericorneal vasculature”
According to Bush, sub-clinical scurvy is any intake below the minimum necessary to produce healthy blood vessels in the eye. This potentially provides a qualitative and quantitative method, based on elementary image analysis, for the determination of vitamin C requirements. While it applies only to microvascular health, this approach is potentially a practical, low cost measure of ascorbate requirements.
The method requires validation and clinical trials, but may lead the way to a quantitative method of assessing scurvy in humans. Bush has been using a semi-quantitative observational grading technique to evaluate the images.
Bush claims to have treated patients with ascorbate over several years. He found that micro-aneurysms, or bulging of small arteries caused by weakening of the artery wall, were gradually eliminated as ascorbate intake increased. He estimated that retinal blood vessels improved in over 90% of patients taking high dose ascorbate. Measurement of such blood vessels seems to be reliable but the response of an individual will vary with time. Bush also claims that cholesterol deposits in the retina become smaller and are reversed, in the longer term. This observation is consistent with the claims of Pauling and others for heart disease as scurvy. Bush’s results require independent confirmation. Notably, however, some subjects needed over 10 grams per day, together with vitamin E, for the full effect. This intake is more than 100 times the RDA.
We must consider the limitations of these current results. The objections to Bush’s work include lack of randomised, double-blind controls, and potential observer bias. However, the change in the retinal blood vessels observed by Bush is described as much larger than normal variation and equivalent to the action of epinephrine. We consider that image selection appears to be a more productive objection than the placebo effect. However, Bush reports a consistent and large effect, which is easily replicable in a short period by an independent experimenter at low cost. Objections to this work carry little weight, as such replication could produce a definitive refutation."...
Some additional comments by Dr. Bush are in the comments section of:
Orthomolecular Solutions to Heart Disease