In this episode of the Real Health Podcast, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ron Hunninghake, MD, and Caralyn Vessall, founder of Sufficient-C, discuss the often overlooked benefits of Vitamin C.
Thanks to This Episode’s Sponsor
Riordan Clinic Nutrient Store: https://store.riordanclinic.org/
Links
Caralyn Vessall: https://sufficientc.com/
Dr. Ron Hunninghake: https://riordanclinic.org/staff/ron-hunninghake-md/
Learn more about Riordan Clinic: https://riordanclinic.org/
Interested in becoming a Patient: https://riordanclinic.org/request-an-appointment/
Disclaimer: The information contained on the Real Health Podcast and the resources mentioned are for educational purposes only. They’re not intended as and shall not be understood or construed as medical or health advice. The information contained on this podcast is not a substitute for medical or health advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. Information provided by hosts and guests on the Real Health Podcast or the use of any products or services mentioned does not create a practitioner-patient relationship between you and any persons affiliated with this podcast.
Read the Transcript
00:00:02:20 – 00:00:16:24
Narrator
This is the Real Health podcast brought to you by Riordan Clinic. Our mission is to bring you the latest information and top experts in functional and integrative medicine to help you make informed decisions on your path to real health.
00:00:17:01 – 00:00:28:06
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Okay, well welcome everyone. I’m Doctor Ron Hunninghake. We’re having another Real Health podcast today, and I’m really excited to have Caralyn Vessel.
00:00:28:08 – 00:00:29:20
Caralyn Vessall
Vessel yeah.
00:00:29:22 – 00:00:49:24
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
As my guest. And Caralyn is the inventor of Sufficient-C, which our patients love Sufficient-C. And it’s a form of vitamin C that, it’s a powdered form, but it it tastes good. What makes it taste so good? Caralyn.
00:00:50:01 – 00:01:14:04
Caralyn Vessall
So I love for everything that I use to taste good. And, our little secret is a blend of, you know, the lemon, the peach and the way we’ve used our stevia. Natural stevia – no erythritol, none of the additives. It’s very pure, but the blend makes it very much like a peach lemonade. And people really enjoy it.
00:01:14:04 – 00:01:27:10
Caralyn Vessall
And that keeps them on what we call the dietary supplement wagon. They’re on it. They stay on it. You know, we always say one step and you’ll be hooked because it’s true. Our customers are all very long term.
00:01:27:12 – 00:01:34:08
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
It’s got a nice tartness about it without being too tart. You know, sometimes straight vitamin C is a little too tart.
00:01:34:12 – 00:01:35:08
Caralyn Vessall
Exactly.
00:01:35:11 – 00:01:50:17
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
So, so this kind of moderated and, encourages people to use it again and again. And so, so tell me the story your, your mother was. What was the story about your mom?
00:01:50:19 – 00:01:54:02
Caralyn Vessall
So my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer.
00:01:54:04 – 00:01:54:24
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Yeah.
00:01:55:01 – 00:02:18:21
Caralyn Vessall
I got very, very upset, as you can imagine. And just as concerning as her diagnosis was, the fact that she was not going to be very open to alternative treatment, she just believed believe very strongly that if the treatment was effective, her traditional oncologist, who she trusted, she would tell her about it. So clearly, everything that I believed in, they would not be telling her.
00:02:18:23 – 00:02:42:01
Caralyn Vessall
And I just had to sort of like force her. So she was doing many things, many of the things that are promoted by Riordan Clinic. But I had to be the cheerleader because she wouldn’t see an alternative doctor. And I knew the value of vitamin C, and of course, I was really she, I was suggesting it vitamin C, which she was doing, but I knew that there was a true value to oral vitamin C.
00:02:42:03 – 00:03:07:21
Caralyn Vessall
So, this shear amount of vitamin C she had to take. She just really I knew she would never be open to it, you know, as you know, it’s a pro oxidant. If it’s IV it’s an antioxidant. If it’s oral. I knew she needed a lot. So I sort of played around with it. And I thought, if my mother will drink this, lots of people will drink it because she was extremely particular.
00:03:07:21 – 00:03:28:05
Caralyn Vessall
And she also had an issue with dehydration. So she was going through traditional chemotherapy as well as all the other drugs they were getting her. By nature. She was not a very thirsty person. I remember growing up, she rarely ate, drank with, with meals. Yeah, she rarely drank. So it was really hitting her hard when she was sick.
00:03:28:07 – 00:03:52:22
Caralyn Vessall
She was in the hospital very often with dehydration. And I thought, oh my God, that we could certainly, you know, address successfully without question. And then I just added the vitamin C to it. And of course there’s a lysine bromelain and a very special 96% pure green tea extract. We mixed it up and we did the Mickey test.
00:03:53:01 – 00:04:04:03
Caralyn Vessall
I know a lot of people these days don’t remember who Mickey was. The Life Cereal Mickey commercial it. Mickey will have it, everybody will have it. And that’s exactly how I felt with my mother. And she really did like it.
00:04:04:05 – 00:04:34:22
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
This is a really important point, and it’s probably something that you don’t know, but, Linus Pauling was the famous, two time Nobel Prize winner who, really brought vitamin C discovery to the masses, I guess you would say. And, part of it was, is that when he found out that, Natural, production of vitamin C did occur in, like, for example, goats.
00:04:34:24 – 00:05:01:21
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Goats will make, as you know, we humans, they say we only need 100 to maybe 150mg a day. We probably need a lot more than that. But we, our ancestors were able to get that from eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. And so we would still want people to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. But the fact that the enzyme that, makes vitamin C in the body for almost every creature doesn’t happen with humans anymore.
00:05:01:23 – 00:05:35:05
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And so, anyway, Pauling found that really high doses or molecular doses of vitamin C was very helpful for just about any illness, any chronic infection, any chronic fatigue, obviously cancer, a number of different things. And he did research in Scotland where he first of all did I.V. vitamin C, ten grams a day, continuous for ten days. But the part that people forget is that he did switch his patients then to 2.5g four times a day.
00:05:35:07 – 00:06:02:03
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And that way they were able to continue using it. And he had some kind of a liquid form that people found very palatable. He he showed there was a 4 to 9 times improved, survival from cancer in the people that did take the vitamin C and continued to take it on an ongoing basis. When he published that no one believed him, that things would get that much better.
00:06:02:03 – 00:06:22:20
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And so Mayo Clinic said, we’re going to repeat the study. First of all, they didn’t give any vitamin C, IV, and then they were trying to give people 20 500 milligram capsules of vitamin C a day for for which a lot of people get diarrhea, upset stomach. And the likelihood is they didn’t take what they were asked to take.
00:06:22:20 – 00:06:54:09
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And then when when they analyzed the data, they didn’t see any improvement in those cancer patients. So my point is, the bad taste of vitamin C may have screwed up the worlds discovery of one of the best ways to control cancer and chronic infection. And so you can, have done a really good job, Caralyn of creating a product that anyone and everyone children, adults, older people, they can take this and not have to worry about a bad taste and not necessarily have.
00:06:54:11 – 00:06:58:01
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Do you ever get reports of, diarrhea with this?
00:06:58:03 – 00:07:18:21
Caralyn Vessel
So yeah, you know, you can certainly take Sufficient-C to be able tolerance. And a lot of people do we even suggest therapeutically if you’re having your a virus to certainly do that. You don’t want it to continue. We always say drop down once that happens. We use the analogy. It’s like filling a glass up with water.
00:07:18:21 – 00:07:34:15
Caralyn Vessel
Once the water starts overflowing, you know that you’ve had enough, right? Yes, it definitely happens. But that’s a good thing. The one thing we never get, which we never get issues of upset, upset, stomach, which.
00:07:34:17 – 00:07:46:24
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
That’s really good about. So the average person, do you think they should be able to take a scoop or two twice a day, or do you need. That’s probably your recommended dose isn’t it.
00:07:47:01 – 00:08:17:07
Caralyn Vessel
So you know, we you know, piggybacking off of what you had just said, we know roughly and please correct me if I’m wrong. About 150 pound animal makes about 15,000mg of vitamin C a day in its body. And if you use that same analogy with human beings, you know you’re looking at Sufficient-C three times a day. You know, a little bit more maybe, just to keep yourself, you know, the way you’re, you know, as if your body need it.
00:08:17:07 – 00:08:41:04
Caralyn Vessel
Now, we acknowledge that vitamin C does come from other sources. So when we say, you know, 15,000mg a day, if you weigh 150 pounds, we’re acknowledging that there’s other contributing factors. It’s not just Sufficient-C take but we also acknowledge that fruits and vegetables alone are never going to get you there. Right. So we always tell people to look at your whole picture.
00:08:41:06 – 00:09:00:07
Caralyn Vessel
But we do go with the animal model. As you know, we do believe that it’s a it’s good to have your vitamin C, however you take it, whether it’s deficiency or anything else to spread it out because it doesn’t stay with you. It’s water soluble and you have to keep up with it. Unlike fat soluble vitamins.
00:09:00:09 – 00:09:19:01
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Some people you know don’t really understand the orthomolecular concept of vitamin C, namely that, well, you know, we can get by with 100mg per day and not go into scurvy, but getting by is not really having optimal benefits. And in the world.
00:09:19:01 – 00:09:20:12
Caralyn Vessel
Staying alive.
00:09:20:14 – 00:09:56:22
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
It’s barely staying alive. And in the live in, it’s stressful. It’s toxic. The food supply is not what it used to be. Plants and vegetables. You know, fruits and vegetables do not have the same amount of vitamin C that they had. And even if they did, it still probably wouldn’t be enough. So I think the point that that I, that I think is really wonderful about your product is that people can take it and enjoy it and get the benefits and not have to struggle to take 15 or 20 capsules and also not have to choke down, you know, straight vitamin C can be pretty tart.
00:09:56:22 – 00:10:10:09
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And so the likelihood of taking it is, is is pretty slim. So, so I think you’ve done a really good service for the world as your, as the business grow and our people discovering this.
00:10:10:11 – 00:10:33:22
Caralyn Vessel
You know, we are so proud that from day one it took off. It really really did. People liked it. They told people about it. You know our concept is a little bit different. We don’t do stick packs because everybody’s different. Everybody has a different just right dose and we don’t want to constrain anybody and we also want to we’re concerned about our carbon footprint.
00:10:33:24 – 00:10:47:05
Caralyn Vessel
We don’t want a lot of extra manufacturing excess. But we’re very proud of the success of Sufficient-C It is very much appreciated.
00:10:47:07 – 00:11:00:12
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And you’ve built on that. You’ve got, I’ve seen you’ve got abundant B and that’s a good one. And then you’re working on another one in terms of what’s the gluten? Nicer. I have to go ahead.
00:11:00:14 – 00:11:23:16
Caralyn Vessel
I’m sorry. The Glutennizer is actually the second product that we created Glutennizer Force Plus. And we acknowledge that a lot of people are gluten sensitive. They’re dairy sensitive. They’re very concerned. They try this they try that. Nothing seems to really make them feel better. So we tell everybody, but we we acknowledge that you can be sensitive to any protein.
00:11:23:18 – 00:11:48:24
Caralyn Vessel
And very often people are sensitive to more than one protein. We always say, if you know what that protein is, it’s really better to avoid it. But sometimes people just don’t know where something sneaks into their diet, makes them very uncomfortable. And people do suffer with chronic indigestion. You know, that shows itself in many different ways. So we threw everything, plus the kitchen sink at Glutennizer plus.
00:11:48:24 – 00:12:12:09
Caralyn Vessel
And of course, we added vitamin C as well because it is very good for gut health and it’s very effective. It’s a this one is a kiwi strawberry. And people either eat use it right before they have a meal, right after they had a meal, during a meal, or therapeutically when they’re having a digestive episode. So it’s it’s just very effective.
00:12:12:09 – 00:12:24:09
Caralyn Vessel
It’s very, it’s very generously dosed. We were not we made sure that there was a lot of every enzyme and that every vegan enzyme was in there.
00:12:24:11 – 00:12:44:01
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
There’s an old saying that death begins in the colon, but I’m going to say health begins in the stomach in the sense that what you’re putting in and how much you’re using can make a big difference in terms of your health and well-being and your immunity. So what kind of feedback do you get from people who use your products?
00:12:44:01 – 00:12:53:14
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
What do they say they notice in terms of using these that these, higher dose as B and, and vitamin C, etc.?
00:12:53:16 – 00:13:16:05
Caralyn Vessel
Well, I just wanted to say Glutennizer Force Plus I actually named after my son. So he was having some like it was like he was like so. Well but he like he was just having rashes. And long story short, I needed for him and it was very successful with him. I played around with enzymes, you know, capsules and things like that.
00:13:16:05 – 00:13:41:17
Caralyn Vessel
So we’re getting back to Abundant-D which I believe was your question. There was the response. So gluten is there. We do very, very well. We actually sell bundles of six at a time. Because people like to stock up on it. But abundant B is similar to sufficiency and that we determined we realized people do need a lot more B12, even though it’s available in so much very often, they need a lot more than what they’re getting.
00:13:41:19 – 00:14:05:06
Caralyn Vessel
So we really ramp that up. And we also ramped up the biotin because that’s another, water soluble B vitamin that people need a lot of. So these are not the only B vitamins that people should be having. We just feel like they could take a lot more of those in conjunction with a nice B vitamin that they might already be taking.
00:14:05:12 – 00:14:19:23
Caralyn Vessel
Probably should be taking. And of course, we added vitamin C to that as well. So people love that. That’s a pink lemonade. And all of our flavors are plant based. They’re all natural in the true sense of the word natural and no additives.
00:14:20:00 – 00:14:46:03
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Or about 50 to 70% of people walking around that have all the methylation disorder. And so methylation is a pathway within the body that, if you have the genetic problems, you’re not going to utilize B vitamin C as well. And so one of the most important of the B vitamins is B12. And then you have people that are, going vegan or they’re cutting back on their meat.
00:14:46:03 – 00:14:58:12
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And so they, and they are in danger of having a B12 deficiency. And it can have pretty significant consequences. So this is, a really good way to stay ahead in that, in that department.
00:14:58:14 – 00:15:18:07
Caralyn Vessel
And you can add it to situations day. So we tell people to get the 4000mg of vitamin C. Excuse me, you can do one scoop of, about a B, one scoop of sufficiency. The flavor is really good. Very much like sap, and, very easy to take.
00:15:18:09 – 00:15:40:24
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
So I think you’ve made good nutrition, easy for people. And I think many people say, I get so tired of swallowing pills or it’s, it’s it’s too expensive or it’s. But I kind of tell people, hey, you know, getting if you if you think it’s expensive, just get sick and hospital or end up on one of the new medications that are out there, you can spend a lot of money that way.
00:15:40:24 – 00:15:47:21
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
So this is a good way to invest in your health. And enjoy it at the same time.
00:15:47:23 – 00:16:08:05
Caralyn Vessel
I think enjoy is the keyword that was the impetus for what we do. And I have to say, we just love this is this is driving me crazy. This thing. But we just love that it’s been embraced by Reardon Clinic. It is really a feather in our cap that we share the label on efficiency, and we tell everybody that we’re are dad and you’re all over our website.
00:16:08:07 – 00:16:28:20
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Doctor Reardon used to say that vitamin C is the most interesting molecule in the world. And it’s it’s really true. It does so many different things for people. I mean, people think of it in terms of preventing colds. And so of course it is really important for, for your immune system. But it it’s helps with the making of collagen.
00:16:28:20 – 00:16:51:22
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
So you’re less likely to have sprains. You’re less likely to have arthritis. It’s an antioxidant in general. So it protects the heart. Linus Pauling was also did a bunch of research in terms of its vitamin C, protecting against heart disease, all the viruses and infections that are out there. By taking vitamin C, you’re keeping your immune system in a good in good shape.
00:16:51:24 – 00:17:11:09
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
It supports cortisol. So for the people that are constantly tired and having trouble getting started in the morning, vitamin C in the morning will be a really good way to boost their adrenal production of cortisol in a way that helps them reduce inflammation but improves their energy and stamina. So there’s just so many ways that this could help.
00:17:11:09 – 00:17:14:08
Caralyn Vessel
And our favorite is cholesterol.
00:17:14:10 – 00:17:15:18
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Yes. Yeah.
00:17:15:20 – 00:17:34:03
Caralyn Vessel
Yeah. And you know, people really have a hard time grasping how vitamin C is going to lower their cholesterol. But I say it’s the shut off valve and you want to lower your cholesterol. Really go hard and heavy for a month on vitamin C and get a blood test.
00:17:34:05 – 00:18:02:18
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Yeah. It’s people don’t know that a high cholesterol means that they’re kind of in trouble. And the body is trying to react to that trouble. And, taking a medicine to lower cholesterol without fixing the antecedent issues is really, kind of like going into the you’ve got your red light on, on your dashboard and you go in and the mechanic says, here’s a piece of tape, put this over the red.
00:18:02:18 – 00:18:03:16
Caralyn Vessel
Light that we.
00:18:03:17 – 00:18:17:01
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Feel better. Well, we want to get the problems that that occur in the body, the toxicity, etc. we want to fix it. And so vitamin C does just that. It is the ultimate repair molecule for the body.
00:18:17:03 – 00:18:22:03
Caralyn Vessel
And really cholesterol is a very good thing. You just don’t you don’t want to mentioned it.
00:18:22:05 – 00:18:46:15
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
You need it and you need it. Yeah. So so if it comes down it’s because your body is making better use of it, not because you’re lowering it artificially. Your body now has what it needs in order to do the work that it needs to do. So this is all really, really good stuff. And so have you personally benefited from your own product?
00:18:46:17 – 00:19:18:17
Caralyn Vessel
You know, I don’t I’m going to be very honest. I know that I’m benefiting because I know what vitamin C does. But I haven’t had an ailment that it’s cured for me. We get calls and letters all the time. People are constantly telling us all the ways they have benefited from it. But, I feel like it is a tremendous benefit, but I’m not going to lie and say, you know, it did something I don’t recall having.
00:19:18:19 – 00:19:24:20
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Well, maybe it’s just that you’ve been so well, you haven’t had anything that it had to fix.
00:19:24:22 – 00:19:37:10
Caralyn Vessel
And so I do try to stay on top of symptoms like symptoms and things like that. So I am very self-aware that way. But, you know, I don’t walk around saying, you know, I’m the poster child for saying.
00:19:37:12 – 00:19:42:05
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Well, it’s the best kind of medicine is preventative medicine.
00:19:42:05 – 00:19:42:23
Caralyn Vessel
Exactly.
00:19:42:24 – 00:20:05:05
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Anyone who’s been ill knows that how bad it is, how bad they feel, and they wish they would have taken. I hear this all the time. I wish I would have taken better care of myself, doctor. Well, here’s one way that you can do it in a in a in an enjoyable way. In a way that’s, going to pay dividends in terms of your longevity.
00:20:05:07 – 00:20:09:07
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
You’re going to need to see the doctor less. You’re going to feel better.
00:20:09:09 – 00:20:38:08
Caralyn Vessel
I don’t want to interrupt, but the best way I’ve benefited is how many times do you feel like something is coming on? Yeah, honestly, I just dragged it out with the thing, so. I mean, I’ve been told a lot of people have asked me, do you ever get sick? Rarely. I mean, it does happen. I mean, we’ve all had the Covid this the that, but, everything is very, thank God, very minimal.
00:20:38:10 – 00:20:44:04
Caralyn Vessel
I don’t really like to, you know, say that too much, but we really go hard and heavy with vitamin C.
00:20:44:06 – 00:20:45:04
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
00:20:45:06 – 00:20:46:18
Caralyn Vessel
What we normally take with you.
00:20:46:20 – 00:21:09:22
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
This is a true story. And people will be amazed by this. Doctor Robert Cathcart was a friend of Doctor Reardon’s that I met, and he was a big vitamin C guy. He actually was an orthopedic surgeon that, invented some kind of hip replacement. He became independently wealthy and got out of medicine, but then got into using testing more vitamin C.
00:21:09:24 – 00:21:42:21
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
He actually worked at one of the colleges in California. He would have, college students come in very, very sick with mono. I mean, like really sick. And he would tell them to take enough vitamin C until it actually caused some loose bowels. Well, guess what? They could take 5000mg an hour all day long without any diarrhea because their body was so, so dependent upon trying to fight this virus that it needed that much more.
00:21:42:23 – 00:22:06:00
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
So that’s an important thing for for the audience to know. Is that if you’re getting sick, if you’re really tired, if you’re really stressed, you may need more vitamin C, because in the animal back to our animal model, they will make more vitamin C depending upon what they need to get over their particular ailments. So this product is a good way to be able to take a scoop every hour or two.
00:22:06:00 – 00:22:15:18
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
If you have to, without having to down a whole bunch of capsules. So I think it’s really a great, great way for people to stay well and to get well if they do get sick.
00:22:15:20 – 00:22:30:15
Caralyn Vessel
We do say that sooner you reach for the tolerance, the healthier you are. Depending on you know what’s wrong. You could be consuming quite a lot. So this is a much easier way. And that is the original reason that we invented the product.
00:22:30:17 – 00:22:54:06
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And these these products fit well together. If you can, if you can digest better, you’re going to get more nutrients from your food. If you use the BS, the B12 one, you’re going to get better methylation, which, I won’t go into that, but it helps so many systems of the body, especially cognitive. There’s so many people that are stressed out these days, and the B vitamins really do help that with stress.
00:22:54:08 – 00:23:03:00
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
And then of course vitamin C, which is the universal remedy. And so I think this is a very good combo of products that you’ve put together here.
00:23:03:02 – 00:23:04:07
Caralyn Vessel
Thank you. So
00:23:04:09 – 00:23:17:01
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
So anyway, we wish you well, we’ll continue to endorse you, our products. We don’t have to endorse you because our patients tell us how much they love these. And so that’s that’s the key.
00:23:17:03 – 00:23:18:17
Caralyn Vessel
Thank you so much for you.
00:23:18:17 – 00:23:22:23
Dr. Ron Hunninghake
Keep up the good work. And thank you for your contribution to to help.
00:23:23:00 – 00:23:26:01
Caralyn Vessel
Thank you so much for having me. Really means a lot.
00:23:26:03 – 00:23:47:22
Narrator
Thank you. Thank you for listening to The Real Health podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave us a review. You can also find all of the episodes in show notes over at Real Health podcast.org. Also, be sure to visit Riordan clinic.org, where you will find hundreds of videos and articles to help you create your own version of real health.
