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The A-B-C Remedy:
Vitamins A, B and C, taken in a specific way, have gotten rid of my cough (after suffering for four years),
as well as the same cough in my family, among neighbors, and for several people who have read this website. I took A, B and
C in unique ways, due in part because a friend told me a nutritionist MD advised her to take 100,000 units of A for her
recurring pneumonia, which cured her of it. (More on this to follow.) These methods
are unusual, but then, this is an unusual situation, with a seemingly-incurable infection that is attacking people
everywhere.
Please note that vitamin A can be man-made in laboratories, a form that is called palmitate,
which can be toxic in fairly small amounts. But natural vitamin A is derived directly from fish liver
oil.
Fish-liver-oil vitamin A doesn't show any toxicity symptoms unless one takes about a million units all at once (says The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
2003 Dec;78(6):1152-9). And even if one did take this much (about 140 pills of 10,000 units each, taken all
together), the only effects are itching, mild hair loss, and the like, which disappear as soon as the vitamin A is stopped.
Of course, in this ABC remedy, use only vitamin that is derived "from fish liver oil." The pills should contain about 10,000
units of A each, and should NOT include A from "palmitate."
Read more on vitamin A toxicity
My first success with The Cough came when I got fed up one night at took 70,000 units of fish-liver-oil
vitamin A along with a half teaspoon (2 grams) of powdered vitamin C. The Cough disappeared in about 10 minutes! That
horrible tickle in the throat just evaporated, for the first time in 4 years. I slept soundly for
the next several hours. After that, I kept the Cough controlled with the A and C, but it didn't cure it. In another year, I
discovered
the need for B vitamins from whole foods.
B vitamins help cells to divide, and give them energy. Thus it is the B vitamins that really boost the fight against
infections, by ramping
up the production of antibodies in our systems. The B's also give the cells energy, which is vital to fighting off
infections. When
even a few B vitamins are lacking in the body, infections can thrive.
However, since B vitamins work together, and
ALL of them are needed, B's in pills cannot be relied on for any length of time (say, more than 6 months or so).
Pills contain only a fraction of all the natural B vitamins occurring in nature. And tragically, B
vitamin pills can create B vitamin deficiencies of the absent B vitamins! So, to get the B's, one must do two
things: eat the "B-Rich foods," and avoid the B-Robbers, the things, so ubiquitous in modern American life, that rob us of
our B vitamins. When I did this, I immediately (next day) developed a powerful cold --- showing that my body had been unable
to fight off this lingering infection without natural spectrum of B vitamins. When the cold cleared up, my Cough was
history.
The ABC Remedy is in 2 parts:
First step ~ I take Vitamins A and C together to strengthen the mucous linings of the throat and
lungs, and mop up the toxins caused by the virus
The Cough is controlled, and the lungs are strengthened.
Second step ~ A rich, natural assortment of myriad B vitamins, is obtained from special foods that
civilization has discarded; this revs up the body's production of white blood cells and many, many other infection-fighting
processes
The Cough is eliminated!
The lungs, bronchial tubes, mouth, nose, and internal body cavities, are lined with mucous membranes. If these membranes are
strong, microorganisms can't penetrate them. Both vitamin A and vitamin C cause the mucous membranes to strengthen up, and
quickly. The C also mops up toxins in the body. Viruses make toxins as they destroy cells; perhaps this toxin-mopping
effect lessens the viruses' ability to function. For whatever reason, taking them together in this fashion did something
amazing. The Cough, and its horrible tickle in the chest, disappeared in a few minutes after taking the A and C in the way
described below. I slept, uninterrupted, for several hours. The tickle then returned. I repeated the dosage, and again it
disappeared. Eventually, I was able to completely control the cough with the A and C alone. But, it wasn't a cure. A year
later, I discovered that I also needed the complete spectrum of B vitamins. (Continued below.)
First Step: A & C
I take 1/2 teaspoon of crystalline powder vitamin C (about 2 grams; available at Trader Joe's), in half a
glass of juice, and use it to swallow about 8
capsules of vitamin A, at 10,000 units per capsule (from "Fish Liver Oil" ONLY). I repeat this dose every time the
horrible
throat tickle returns. At first, it was every few hours. After a few days, I needed this dose a minimum of 3 times per day.
If I tried to reduce it to twice a day, the cough returned.
NOTE: I MUST HAVE C-COMPLEX ALONG WITH THE C.
I have always taken a C-Complex pill daily. Without the associated nutrients, straight vitamin C does not
work nearly as well. I learned this from a friend who had severe spontaneous bruising. Without C-Complex, vitamin C did not
affect her bruising, but with it, the bruising was eliminated. Trader Joe's "Vitamin C Complex" works well for me,
containing 200 mg lemon bioflavonoids, 24 mg hesperidin, 50 mg rutin, per pill. Puritan's Pride "Super C-500 Complex" is an equivalently effective product as well.
Here's what happened to me (at about 3:30 am one desperate coughing Winter night):
I remembered a friend, a mother of three closely-spaced children, who had had pneumonia every winter. Her courageous,
knowledgeable MD had prescribed that she take 100,000 units of A for three days, then reduce it to about 50,000 units per
day. That had knocked out her pneumonia almost immediately. "That's it!" I said to myself. "I'm trying it!" After years
of coughing, I was ready to try this high amount of A. I had extra confidence to try the high dose of A, thanks to Adelle
Davis's statement that no study had ever proven that fish-liver-oil vitamin A is toxic.
Along with the A, I used powdered crystalline vitamin C, containing 2 grams of C per half teaspoon. Each capsule of A
contains 10,000 iu ("units") of A. On the bottle, it must say that the A is from "fish liver oil." I measured 1/2 teaspoon of
the C into a small glass of water. (I now use juice.) With this, I swallowed 8 capsules of the A, and finished off the
C-water. Amazingly, the Cough and its horrible throat tickle disappeared in about 15 minutes! For the first time in 3
years! I finally got some sound sleep. The cough returned a couple hours later. I took the same dose of A and C again.
The cough disappeared again, quicker this time. I kept taking that same dose the next day, about 4 more times. The cough was
thoroughly controlled by this. I had absolutely no side effects from this much A. Doctors will tell you this much A could
be very dangerous for you..... Sure it could, unless it's from fish liver oil!
I was thrilled! A way to control the cough! Over the next few days, I kept reducing the dosage amounts, and taking it less
and less often. I found I could not take the A&C less that 3 times in 24 hours. Taking the A&C two times in 24 hours just
wouldn't control my cough.
NOTE: When the Cough is eliminated entirely, one should reduce the daily amount of Vitamin A.
Furthermore, when taking vitamin A, it is highly recommended to take Vitamin D, also from fish liver oil, along with the
vitamin A.
I continued the A&C three times a day for the next year and more, always with the same 1/2 teaspoon of C, but varying the A
depending on how I felt. Sometimes a couple of coughs would return, not that bothersome, but enough to let me know it was
rearing its ugly head. Then I'd take upwards of 5 to 8 vitamin A capsules with the C, or increase the frequency of the
vitamins. Everyone's vitamin requirements vary a lot; each person must figure out what dosage and timing is right for them.
Before putting up this website, I had helped a neighbor of mine and good friend, an elderly woman so wracked with the cough
that she could never go out at all, though she used to go out frequently. I hadn't seen her for almost a year. Her husband,
a vitamin pooh-pooh-er, came to me finally and said, "I'll try anything." I told him about my A&C discovery. He said he'd
like her to try it. I wrote her the dose I take, and gave her some A and C. The very next night, she joined 15 of us in a
dine-out at a restaurant. She did have to leave the table, after we started on dessert, for a one-time brief coughing spell.
But other than that, she thoroughly enjoyed the evening, and her food, cough-free. So, knowing that the A&C worked for
someone besides myself, I had confidence that I should tell others about it who were suffering as I had been.
Since that time, I've received several testimonies from people who have tried my food remedies for the Cough and got rid of
it, some after years of suffering.
Second Step: THE NATURAL B'S
Dosing up on "B-Rich Foods" while avoiding the "B-Robbers"
The natural B's are found in seed foods and liver and some other organ meats. There are many, many B
vitamins, and they occur together and work together "synergistically." Deficiencies in a few of them cause the others not to
be effective. Pills cannot possibly contain all the B vitamins. Also, if one takes B vitamins in pills, one runs the risk
of creating DEFICIENCIES in the B vitamins that are absent.
By far the best way to get B vitamins is from B-rich foods, the very ones that modern food-producing and
marketing methods have virtually eliminated from our diet.
Especially rich are liver, raw wheat germ, raw sunflower seeds, flax seeds, blackstrap molasses, and plain
yogurt (NOT sweetened). To get a full assortment of B's into myself quickly, I made a tiny bowl of whole grain cereal (I
used uncooked instant oatmeal flakes, about 2 tablespoons, but any all-whole-grain cereal will do, such as shredded wheat,
grape nuts --- but not any with sugar in the ingredients list!). To this I added a mixture of ground up sunflower seeds
(used a coffee grinder) and raw wheat germ, equal amounts of both. I put about 2 tablespoons of this mixture over the oat
flakes. Then I drizzled Blackstrap molasses over it --- no other sweetener. Blackstrap molasses has had most of the sugar
removed. Other types of molasses are still full of sugar. I added milk, and enjoyed it. I followed this with several good
gulps of the plain yogurt. Adelle Davis called yogurt "a virtual B-vitamin factory in your intestines." Of course,
commercially-sweetened yogurt usually isn't live, so it won't produce B vitamins. Later, I cooked up and devoured about 1/2
pound of naturally-raised beef liver and onions.
I stopped using all white flour products, white rice, sugar, and alcohol, as these quickly use up the B vitamins in the body.
Also, I haven't used B-vitamin pills or pills containing them for years, but if I did, I would stop taking them for the above
reasons.
I ate the B cereal and liver twice a day for 2 days, then needed it less and less frequently. After the second day, I came
down with a full-blown cold, as strong and snotty as when I was a kid, showing that my body finally could fight off the
infection that was causing the Cough. When the cold cleared up, the incurable Cough was entirely gone, and did not
return.
Ideas on how to "B" Yourself; what foods have B's, and how to
prepare them
While the A-C dose had kept my Cough completely under control, it did not eliminate it. To do that, I needed the natural B
vitamins from food sources. It took me another year to figure this out!
I had wondered often about why the A&C would control the cough, but not cure it. By chance I found a copy of Adelle Davis's
older book, Vitality Through Planned Nutrition. On page 180 I read:
"Vitamin-B complex and infections No single vitamin of the B complex alone appears to build resistance to infection.
In experiments ...at the University of Toronto, however, one group of rats was given a diet only slightly deficient in the
vitamins of the B complex. Another group was fed the identical diet except that generous amounts of these B vitamins were
supplied. In both groups, growth was normal, and the animals appeared to be healthy. But, when all of the animals were fed
disease-producing bacteria, only 20 per cent of the group which was somewhat deficient in the B vitamins survived, contrasted
with 87 per cent of the group which had been fed these vitamins in more generous proportions. People suffering from
deficiencies of the B complex have low resistance to infections." [emphasis mine]
The light went on!!! THAT'S WHY my husband has never gotten the cough, it suddenly occurred to me. My husband and I always
eat together, always the same foods. But he never adds sugar to anything, and snacks on raw sunflower seeds like they're
going out of style, while I would take another cup of coffee, with sugar, and rarely any sunflower seeds. That was the
difference! He was dosing up on B-rich food, and avoiding B-robbers, while I was doing the exact opposite.
I read a bit farther, then I looked up the B-vitamin contents of various foods. We had many of them in the kitchen already!
I immediately went to the cupboard, and got some shredded wheat breakfast cereal. I put some sunflower seeds into the
blender, and sprinkled them on. I sprinkled on some raw wheat germ (we had all this on hand, I just didn't know I needed
it). After adding milk, I sweetened it with some molasses we had around. When I finished the cereal, I ate a few big spoons
of plain yogurt, followed by some more milk for the yogurt bacteria to grow in in my intestines.
By that evening, I was buzzing around clearing off all my deskwork. "What's happening to me?" I thought. "I never have this
much energy and concentration!" Then I remembered the B-Rich cereal I'd eaten that afternoon. The next day, I came down
with a HUGE cold, just like the kind I used to get as a youngster. It lasted a week, and when it cleared up, my cough was
Gone Gone Gone! I no longer needed the A&C dosage. I was cough-free. I caught that cold on New Year's Day, 2002. My cough
has never returned in that uncontrollable fashion.
The B's are an amazing group of compounds. They are involved in making cells grow, in energy production, in health of the
nervous system, in skin health, and myriad other functions. A lack of any of the B's can cause the body's energy to drop.
The B-foods work --- they kicked out my Cough and it has not come back.
The world is becoming very deficient in B vitamins, an increasing global deficiency due to the widespread milling of grains,
combined with giving up the old ways of eating organ meats, whole grains, using the wheat germ and rice polish, along with
ever-increasing, industry-driven sugar consumption. Sugar, white flour and white rice --- now eaten in huge quantities, and
on a daily and continually-increasing basis --- quickly use up the B's in the body.
The B's need to be obtained in the full, natural, living spectrum of compounds that occur together in certain foods.
The B's all work together --- getting some B's and not others tends to build up deficiencies in the ones you don't obtain.
Some of the B's have not been discovered yet, so B vitamin pills cannot possibly contain all the B vitamins, no matter what
they claim. Supremely ironic is the fact that B vitamin pills can actually be making you deficient in the as-yet-unknown B
vitamins! (To read more on the B vitamins, see our affiliate website, Adelle
Davis Revisited. Better yet, buy her books!)
This process of getting re-saturated with natural B's is what seemed to totally eliminate my Cough. It is fairly simple,
once the situation is understood. You will have to make some big changes in sugar and white flour/white rice consumption, as
well as adding B-foods to the diet in large quantities for several days. Once you get rid of your Cough, you can probably
return to having some sugar. You will have to figure that out for yourself. Every time I have a sugary dessert, the tickle
in my throat becomes unpleasant, and often I have to cough!
The B-richest foods are liver, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, molasses, and plain yogurt.
Sweetened yogurt has been "killed" --- plain yogurt has living, beneficial bacterial which grow B vitamins in your intestines
--- always take some milk when you take yogurt, to grow the good bacteria and make a B-vitamin factory inside you!
Basically, you just get as much natural B vitamins as you can, and at the same time, you eliminate as completely as possible
all the things that are draining you of B vitamins.
For many people, this will be as simple as giving up sugar, honey and alcohol entirely for a few days, and taking B-foods
several times a day, in combination. (See below for ideas.)
If you try this ABC approach for a few days, I think you will find your Cough greatly improved, or, hopefully, eliminated.
More Details
Vitamin A keeps the body's mucous membranes, which line the nose, mouth, lungs and all internal cavities and organs, strong.
Mucous membranes are covered with, and continually secrete, a mildly-antiseptic clear mucous that constantly washes away the
bacteria and microorganisms that enter the body. When vitamin A is undersupplied, or there is not enough to meet the demands
of an infection, the mucous membranes become dry and slough off, making clots of dead cells in the lungs and elsewhere,
something like dandruff. Bacteria quickly get a foothold, and grow voluminously in these conditions.
During infections, the need for vitamin A skyrockets.
Quote: "During all infections and most illnesses, the body's need for vitamin A is greatly increased. That
the stored supply is quickly exhausted is shown by the fact that abnormally small amounts of the vitamin are found in the
blood of persons suffering from infections. Blood vitamin A is particularly low in diseases of the liver and kidney, during
tuberculosis, pneumonia, and colitis." Vitality Through Planned Nutrition, 1948, p. 127.
About Vitamin C
Crystalline vitamin C, dissolved in water or juice, will behave very differently in the body from C in pill form. The
crystalline C enters the bloodstream very quickly, and somehow operates much more efficiently against disease in many
instances. Without going into detail here, we will simply recommend that this Remedy be tried only with the crystalline C
until one gets a chance to experiment further with other forms of C. Vitamin C, like vitamin A, makes cells strong and
resistant to invasion by foreign organisms. It strengthens the "cement" that bonds all of the body's cells together.
Linus Pauling explained how cancers are able to invade surrounding tissues: all
cancer tumors secrete a substance that destroys the vitamin C in surrounding tissues. A localized scurvy occurs, which is a
virtual dissolving of the tissues, which enables the cancer tumor to grow out into the body. Vitamin C in high enough doses
will prevent some of this scurvy from occurring, thus restricting the tumor's growth. The simple administration of vitamin C
to cancer patients saves 10% of otherwise terminally ill cancer patients, Pauling reported.
Buying Vitamins
The C crystals are available at Trader Joe's for $10 for two pounds
(approximately 1 kg), or in health food stores for about triple that price. Puritan's
Pride online catalogue also has C crystals at a discount if you buy more than one bottle. They have three 20-ounce
bottles for $41.88 (August, 2003). The Vitamin A from fish liver oil is available from almost every health food store, for
about $3 a bottle. Puritan's Pride has fish liver oil A at 300 capsules for $3.54. Any A you buy must be from
fish liver oil, not artificial A ("irradiated"), which can be toxic. If it does not have the words "fish liver oil" on
the bottle, don't buy it.
Just to be safe, however, pregnant women should be extremely careful of their Vitamin A intake. Read everything you
can about it, and read Adelle Davis. Read the many customer reviews of Adelle Davis's research. Buy her best book, Let's
Eat Right to Keep Fit, at Amazon.com's Adelle
Davis page
How to "B-Rich and not B-Robbed" ~~ Some Pointers
1. Few foods are rich in B vitamins, though all life contains some of them. Man's standard source of B vitamins for
thousands of years has been whole grains and organ meats. But today, we now mill our staple grains -- wheat and rice --
around the globe. We throw away the B-rich brown parts that contain the entire spectrum of B vitamins, while consuming more
and more white flour and white rice. Grains are our traditional sources of B vitamins, and we have eradicated them almost
completely.
2. B vitamins are used up as the body produces energy from starches and sugars. We are consuming inordinately large
quantities of vitamin-robbed carbohydrates, with the amounts growing week by week: pasta, bread, bakery goods, white rice.
Sugar consumption continues to rise like the use of an addictive drug. Milled grains and sugar do a double-whammy on any B
vitamins in the body: (1) they speed up the metabolism, causing the B's to be used up, and (2) they take the place of our
traditional diet rich in whole grains which should be supplying B's, the entire spectrum of B's in their natural form, on a
daily basis.
3. We most likely have not yet identified all the B vitamins. B vitamins work synergistically, that is, they all work
together, and are needed in a complete spectrum, not just a few here and there. Further, a constant or large supply of one
or a few B's over time can cause a deficiency of the missing B vitamins. If there are B vitamins that have not yet been
discovered, and one takes a preparation of the ones that have been discovered for a lengthy period of time, one stands
to get a deficiency in the missing B vitamins. So, taking B vitamin supplements, ironically, combined with the deleterious
effects of milled grains and continual sugar consumption, may be producing B vitamin deficiencies in a huge proportion of the
civilized public.
Adelle Davis says 100% of the time, whenever she mentions using a B vitamin supplement, that these supplements must be
taken together with foods containing the whole, natural spectrum of B's. She often says, especially in her older works,
that it is much more preferable to get the B vitamins from natural food sources than from synthetic preparations. And that
one must rarely, or never, try to correct a symptom with just a single B vitamin.
4. Foods that contain the whole spectrum of B vitamins are rarely consumed. Liver is the best source, in terms of quantity
and types of B vitamins it contains. We already mentioned grains, nuts and seeds. Perhaps only 1/3rd of the California
public consumes nuts and seeds with any frequency, with the exception of peanuts, which may or may not have a really complete
spectrum of B's. And the amounts of nuts and seeds eaten is not large, except in a few individuals.
I've polled many classrooms of children on this. While not an exact study, of course, it has shown me that the ones who
really like nuts and seeds (sunflower seeds especially) are far healthier, and universally of ideal weight, than the rest of
their class. In fact, among children who can describe what a nut-cracker is, I have not found one overweight kid.
Beans have B vitamins, also, in quantity somewhat less than the grains. Probably, beans and grains go together in B
vitamins similarly to the ways they go together in amino acid types and quantities, i.e., they probably complement each other
naturally. Beans and grains occur naturally together in the wild: the beans use the grains for climbing poles, while the
grains thrive on the nitrogen that the beans give to the soil. A walk in a naturally-balanced meadow will show you bean
flowers thrusting up everywhere among the stiff-standing grains.
Brewer's yeast is another often-discarded byproduct that is extremely rich in the B vitamins. But today, almost every brand
of brewer's yeast is found to contain synthetic B's, added to boost the score-card of amounts and types contained therein.
It is very hard to obtain the unadulterated brewer's yeast. So, the same situation applies as with supplements: taking
brewer's yeast with added synthetic B vitamins may build up deficiencies in the ones that are not in the preparation.
Molasses is likewise very rich in B vitamins. The sugar is crystallized out of it, and what remains is the nutrient rich
part. Blackstrap molasses has had much more of the sugar removed, and thus is better for using as a food additive. For
years, molasses with added thiamin (which is destroyed by heat) was used as a childhood vitamin supplement.
How many people eat liver, kidney, heart, 100% whole wheat bread without added sweeteners to rob the body of the B vitamins,
brown rice, whole wheat spaghetti cooked by the waterless method so the B's aren't thrown out with the cooking water, whole
wheat pizza crust, whole wheat pancakes, wheat germ, rice polish, unadulterated brewer's yeast, sunflower seeds, nuts and
freshly-cooked beans on a daily basis? And at the same time limit their intake of sugar to once a week or so? Probably not
one of you readers can say you eat this way. If so, please let me know! I'd like to compare notes.
This is the way one must eat if one wants to build optimum health. One must feast on the B-vitamin rich foods for several
days, and then, after health has returned, continue to use B-rich foods regularly, and avoid the B-robbers except on special
occasion.
Click here for the B YOURSELF regimen
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Definitions
Acute: Characterized by sharpness or severity; having a sudden onset, sharp rise, and short duration; seriously
demanding urgent attention
Bacterium (Plural = Bacteria): Any of a class (Schizomycetes) of microscopic plants having round, rodlike,
spiral, or filamentous single-celled or noncellular bodies often aggregated into colonies or motile by means of flagella,
living in soil, water, organic matter, or the bodies of plants and animals, and being autotrophic, saprophytic, or parasitic
in nutrition and important to man because of their chemical effects and as pathagens.
Bronchitis: An acute or chronic inflammation of the bronchial tubes, or a disease marked by this.
Bronchial tube: A bronchus or any of its branches.
Bronchioles: The tiniest brochial tubes in the lungs; there are about 30,000 of them in each lung; each one is about
the thickness of a hair
Bronchus: Either of the two primary divisions of the trachea that lead respectively into the right and left lung.
Chronic: Marked by long duration or frequent recurrence; not acute
Cough: A symptom, not a disease. A reflex action that tries to clear the lungs. At least one online MD recommends
getting a chest x-ray if one has a cough for 6 weeks, even if a doctor has used a stethoscope and pronounced the lungs
"clear."
Epidemic: Affecting, or tending to affect, many individuals within a population, community, or region, at the same
time; excessively prevalent
Inflammation: A local response to cellular injury that is marked by capillary dilatation, leukocytic infiltration,
redness, heat, and pain and that serves as a mechanism initiating the elimination of noxious agents and of damaged tissue;
when tissues are damaged or otherwise attacked, blood cells rush to the area to bring healing and remove damaged tissue,
causing swelling, and also causing blockage of circulation
Trachea: The main trunk of the system of tubes by which air passes to and from the lungs in vertebrates.
Virus: Any of a large group of submicroscopic infective agents that are regarded either as the simplest microorganisms
or as extremely complex molecules, that typically contain a protein coast surrounding an RNA or DNA core of genetic material,
that are capable of growth and multiplication only in living cells, and that cause various important diseases in man, lower
animals, or plants.
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