Diabetes mellitus is controlled by vitamin C treatment.

The present study was started to investigate the question of whether or not vitamin C administration may help control diabetes mellitus (DM) by stimulating the insulin mechanism of a DM patient. We were motivated to take up the above thesis by the anticipation that vitamin C, being detectable in abundance in endocrine cells, may play a cardinal role in the production of hormones. In the preliminary experiment, we investigated the relation between glucose, insulin and vitamin C in the plasma of a non-diabetic male volunteer in whom vitamin C was introduced intravenously either by injection or by infusion, and with or without concomitant administration of glucose. In the follow-up study of 3 DM patients, the effect of the vitamin C infusion therapy on DM was assessed by summing up multiple clinical information. Results obtained are as follows: 1) the drip infusion system was superior to the ordinary injection system for maintaining plasma concentration of vitamin C at a high level and for a long period. 2) The plasma concentration of insulin, when tested in the vitamin C infusion system, followed a bimodal curve--a finding to suggest that vitamin C may stimulate the insulin mechanism in 2 distinct ways. The early mode was glucose-dependent at its height, but the late mode was independent of glucose charge. 3) The praxis of vitamin C infusion produced clinical improvements in 3 DM patients. The therapeutic efficacy of the treatment varied from patient to patient. In all cases, control of DM was started by combined use of the vitamin C infusion treatment and the insulin injection treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)