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that 42 percent of patients improved just with sugar restriction alone. If he OXALATES AND CANCER TREATMENT
combined a low-sugar diet together with anti-fungal drugs, he had about Oxalates also come into play in cancer treat-
a 78 percent success rate. ment. One of the drugs used to treat cancer, ox-
The most comprehensive study was that of a Dr. Jessop in California, aliplatin, contains a combination of platinum and
who treated over one thousand people with chronic fatigue and fibromy- oxalate. In many of the people taking this drug,
algia using a single anti-fungal drug, ketoconazole. Eighty-four percent their cancer improved, but they also experienced
of the patients improved. Of the 1,100 patients, 685 were on disability severe neurotoxicity and nerve damage. While
payments. After the treatment with anti-fungal treatment, only twelve undergoing treatment, patients developed high
remained on disability. It was an extremely effective treatment! amounts of oxalates which were coming from the
drugs. Researchers found the effect was specific
ZELLWEGER SYNDROME to the oxalates. If they gave the drug without the
High amounts of oxalates have also been found in persons with a oxalate the toxicity did not occur; the toxicity was
metabolic disorder called Zellweger syndrome, which causes the reduc- a result of the oxalate combined with the drug.
tion or absence of an intracellular organelle called peroxisome, leading to Research has also found that people with
mental retardation and severe metabolic problems. In one study, nineteen genetic variations called polymorphisms experi-
of twenty-three patients exhibited high amounts of oxalate, and there was enced much more neurotoxicity when exposed to
a direct relationship between the degree of mental impairment in children this drug. Alanine-glyoxylate aminotransferase
and their levels of oxalates. The children with the highest amounts of (AGXT) is the enzyme responsible for moderat-
oxalates were the ones who were the most mentally impaired. ing the production of oxalates in the body. People
with a genetic variation that leaves them deficient

VITAMIN C, COPPER AND OxALATES

What about the controversy surrounding vitamin C therapy? Vitamin C has been shown to be very helpful in kids
with autism, although theoretically vitamin C can form oxalates. I say theoretically. Vitamin C can increase your risk of
kidney stones if you take extremely high doses, in the range of 100 grams (100,000 mg) a day.
A double-blind study found that very high doses of vitamin C was very effective in reducing autistic symptoms. A
study showed that a person taking 2000 mg (2 grams) of vitamin C a day for ninety days did not cause a significant effect
or change in oxalate levels.
Another study evaluated forty-five thousand men who took vitamin C and vitamin B over six years and examined
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the effect this supplementation had on their kidneys. In the six years of follow up they found 751 cases of kidney stones
out of 45,000 men. There was no association, however, of vitamin C or vitamin B intake with the kidney stones. In fact,
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men who took more vitamin C had less risk of kidney stones than men who took less than 250 mg vitamin C.
The real problem with vitamin C is the metals that the person may be taking. If one is taking high amounts of copper
or iron, these can accelerate the breakdown of vitamin C to form oxalates. Someone with high copper or iron levels may
be at risk for higher oxalate formation if also supplementing with vitamin C. The vitamin C may be broken down to form
dehydroascorbate and then oxalate. Knowing your copper and iron status can be very important.
If, for example, you have copper pipes in your home, which is very common, and you have acidic water, that water
will dissolve your copper pipes so that most of the water coming out of your faucet will contain high amounts of copper.
In turn, the high copper may cause you to degrade your vitamin C. There is a problem with forming extra oxalates, but
this also means that even if you take high doses of vitamin C, it may not be useful because the copper can degrade it so
rapidly. It is the free copper that is so toxic.
Copper is bound to a protein in the blood called ceruloplasmin. Isolating ceruloplasmin from blood was one of the
first things I did after earning my PhD. I went to the Red Cross and obtained outdated plasma and I didn’t even have to
test it. All I had to do was look at the color of the plasma. Donors who had high copper had serum that was green. I could
pick out the samples with high copper just by looking at them in the freezer and choosing the green color.
Almost invariably the samples were from women who were on birth control pills. The estrogen causes the body to
make more of this protein. We test this copper-zinc profile in the Great Plains Laboratory and the most important value
is the free copper. A person with autism can have ten times the value of free copper compared to normal individuals.
In some individuals with autism this can be most significant; but this copper-zinc imbalance is important in almost every
chronic disease: ADD, schizophrenia, arthritis, chronic fatigue, and many others. When you have too much copper and
not enough zinc, vitamin C will not be utilized, it will be destroyed.

SPRING 2010 Wise Traditions 45