Dr. Berg Table of Contents
Determining a vitamin C deficiency
Could something as simple as looking at your tongue help you determine if you could have a vitamin C deficiency?
let’s talk about how to determine a vitamin C deficiency , a major vitamin C deficiency , like a subclinical scurvy type situation just from looking at the tongue .
So the name of this would be scorbutic tongue .
vitamin C and Scorbutic tongue
So you have a combination of glossitis , which is a condition where the tongue is inflamed , kind of shiny , sometimes red , with red blotches on the side through here .
And that’s basically a very tiny micro hemorrhaging of the blood vessels .
And you can also see that in other parts of the body like the lower legs , with these these red purple spots .
And the reason for that is vitamin c is intimately involved in making collagen , and it’s involved in connective tissue .
So the inside of your vascular system is all connective tissue .
So if you don’t have enough vitamin c to make that that network , everything falls apart .
You start getting little areas of bruising and bleeding and little red spots and blotches , and it can happen in the tongue , anywhere in the body .
Vitamin C deficiency
And so there’s other vitamin c deficiencies as well .
But realize a vitamin c deficiency starts off very , very gradual , and the more deficient you are , the more symptoms you’re gonna have .
You don’t want to necessarily wait until you have all of these symptoms to do something about it , but it does usually take about a month of not consuming vitamin c to have this show up .
And there’s other things too that can create a deficiency by preventing the absorption of vitamin c .
So you may be consuming vitamin c or even taking it as a supplement , but if you’re consuming this thing called sugar , or you have high levels of sugar in your bloodstream because you’re diabetic , that can block your vitamin c levels .
Why ?
Because the chemistry of vitamin c is very similar to sugar .
So if you consume them at the same time , the sugar is gonna go in and the vitamin C will not .
So if you’re gonna consume sugar , consume it not when you’re taking the vitamin c at a different time period .
And I’m being very sarcastic because you don’t wanna consume any sugar at all .
There are many other symptoms of a vitamin C deficiency .
Other vitamin C deficiency symptoms
One would be fatigue , and that’s probably going to be the first one you experience .
You have this lethargy , you’re weak , you’re tired , you may develop sore arms or legs , you might brush your teeth and notice there’s blood on there , bleeding gums .
Why ?
Because of connective tissue and or collagen around the vascular part of your gums .
Also , you can experience bone pain .
Vitamin C deficiency starts off very gradually, and the more deficient you are, the more symptoms you have. You don’t really want to wait until you have all of the symptoms to do something about it.
You can also see this with a vitamin d deficiency .
Bruising , like we just talked about the vascular system , and then there are these red and purple , spots .
A lot of times you’ll see them in the lower legs , especially in a diabetic .
I wonder why .
Because sugar competes for vitamin c , and they have high levels of sugar .
Also , because Vitamin c is necessary to strengthen collagen , tendons , ligaments , you may find that your your teeth are loose .
Great vitamin C sources
Here’s some good foods that have higher levels of Vitamin c .
Citrus , like lemon juice , but it has to be raw because heat destroys it .
Peppers , red peppers , green peppers , sauerkraut probably has the most vitamin c .
If you have a good sauerkraut , you’re talking like 700 milligrams of vitamin c per cup .
I mean , our RDAs for , vitamin c is about 90 .
So you’re consuming a tremendous amount of vitamin C when you do sauerkraut .
The leafy greens , salads , brussels sprouts , broccoli all have vitamin C .
Parsley is loaded with vitamin c , and so is cabbage , which , well , that’s how you make the sauerkraut .
Key Points:
Scorbutic tongue is a combination of:
- Glossitis — A condition where the tongue is inflamed and has a shiny and sometimes red appearance.
- Red blotches — This is very tiny micro hemorrhaging of the blood vessels. You may also notice this in other places around the body.
It could take about a month of not consuming vitamin C for symptoms to show up. Other things can cause a vitamin C deficiency by preventing the absorption of vitamin C in the body. You may be consuming vitamin C, but your body may not be absorbing it, which could create a deficiency. Sugar can especially block the absorption of vitamin C.
Other vitamin C deficiency symptoms:
• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Sore arms or legs
• Bleeding gums
• Bone pain
• Bruising
• Red/purple spots
• Loose teeth
Great vitamin C foods to consume:
• Citrus (raw lemon juice)
• Peppers (red and green peppers)
• Sauerkraut
• Greens
• Parsley
• Cabbage
