Vitamin C is a having a moment during the pandemic and sales are surging, but you have to watch out for some offering it up as a coronavirus treatment. The FTC and FBI are investigating health clinics and wellness centers for overhyping high-dose IV infusions of vitamin C as ways to prevent or treat COVID-19. Brent Schrotenboer, investigative reporter at USA Today, joins us for more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Wednesday, July. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive
podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. Vitamin
C is having a moment during the pandemic and sales
are surgy, but you have to watch out for some
offering it up as a coronavirus treatment. The FTC and
FBI are investigating health clinics and wellness centers for overhyping
(00:22):
high dose i V infusions of vitamin C as a
way to prevent or treat COVID nineteen. Brent scroten boor
investigative reporter at USA Today, joins us for more. Thanks
for joining us, Brent, Thank you appreciate it. Vitamin C
seems to be having a moment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sales of vitamin C supplements have gone up to about
(00:44):
two million dollars in the first half of that's up
seventy compared to the same period last year. I know,
just anecdotally for myself, as soon as all the hoarding
was going on and people were doing all this panic buying,
my wife right away bought up a bunch of VITAM
and see stuff too that it's good for you. But
there's actually a lot of instances where people are selling
(01:07):
vitamin C by i V. They're making these false claims
that it can help treat COVID nineteen. The FTC has
had to get involved with shutting down some of these people.
There was even an FBI raid on somebody who was
doing these vitamin C by IVY treatments. Brent tell us
a little bit about that. It's interesting it's sort of
(01:28):
taken almost like, uh, like a cult status. It almost
seems like a religion. Via vitamin C has almost become
a religion if people really want to believe it does
this and that in the scary time of pandemic. And
you should stay right off the top. I mean, vitamin
C is very good for you. Everybody needs it. It's
an essential nutrient. It does help your immunity. It's found
(01:50):
in fruits and vegetables. And if you eat a lot
of fruits and vegetables and you're you're gonna probably have
a pretty good immune system and good overall health. So
let's just make this clear. Vit MUC is good, okay,
I mean, there's nothing really bad about it. You can
take a lot of it and probably the worst that's
going to happen is you don't need all that you
that you think you do, that you might be overtaking it,
(02:11):
but that you might just come out of your body
in natural ways and not really have any effect. And
so it's important is to establish that. But what the
pandemic has done is that there's a there's fear out
there about this visible disease that nobody knows how to
cure prevent right now, and so people are kind of
grasping at things that they think they know or think
could help. And probably very predictably, we're seeing businesses that
(02:34):
are going to try to push the envelope and try
to say that that mainlining vitamin C into your veins
is going to prevent or cure COVID nineteen and there's
just no evidence to support that. And and so we've
seen like the federal government cracked down on it because
you know, like the Federal Trade Commission has been investigating
different businesses and what they say and how they advertise.
(02:57):
They regulate against deceptive business practice is a deceptive advertising,
and they founded dozens of businesses like wellness clinics. Let's
say that if you inject this into your vein through
an IV you are going to prevent yourself from getting COVID, etcetera. FBI,
as you mentioned, they rated a doctor's office near Detroit
(03:18):
in April where the this doctor was very avid about
this treatment. He was injecting us into their veins and
saying it helped with COVID, and he was also billing
medic here for it. And he's not supposed to do
that because it's not it's not not an approved thing
to bill medic here for something that and that's don't
really work. And that's probably where it started really going
(03:39):
downhill because they're seeing these treatments for COVID nineteen. I
think that's the way he was presenting them even in
the building process, and that's where it's going to draw
a lot of scrutiny. But you write about how there's
a history of misunderstanding with vitamin C and as you
mentioned where you know, I'm not taking away from it,
as you mentioned at the top, it is good for you.
But where did it oh, where it got this cult
(04:02):
status that probably can be traced back to the nineteen
seventy when a guy, a scientist named the Linus Pauling
published a book called vitamin C and the common cold,
and he basically theorized that you take higher doses of it,
it's going to give you better defenses. And that has
been the subject of debate. Some say that's been discredited.
(04:24):
Some say, well, it's arguable that it didn't get enough testing,
the tests about it weren't that good, and that there
have been studies that have shown that while it can't
prevent the common cold, which there is no cure for
the common cold, there are some indications that in evidence
that it could reduce the severity of a coal or
or the duration of it. And just in the general
(04:46):
sense that because you need vitamin C is a general
essential nutrient, it's going to give you better immunity in general.
It's just as far as making specific claims about it
about helping against this can Asian or disease is where
it gets a little bit dice here. There. There is
actually a Linus Palling Institute at at Oregon State University
(05:08):
that that's involved in studying exactly how vitamins can and
can't help, and and one of the guys there told
me that there just hasn't been enough regulars study to
know exactly how much of a benefit it provides for
certain things, and that's where you know, we get into
the stuff that was theorized back in the seventies. Is
(05:29):
you know, I don't think it's been totally disproven, but
it just needs a lot more rigorous study to know
exactly what it's doing. Yeah, there's even clinical trials involving
COVID nineteen vitamin C, but those could take years before
reaching any conclusion. But people are still thinking it works.
There was a March survey they said of people in
the US thought to take vitamincy probably or definitely prevented
(05:52):
COVID nineteen infection. So the thought is out there, but
you just gotta know that vitamin C is not a
proved treatment for COVID nineteen or preventative for COVID nineteen.
One of these things that's taken on a lot more
popularity in recent years and especially now during the pandemic
is these I V treatments. So you can you can
(06:13):
find a lot of these in a lot of cities
through wellness centers or naturopathic doctors that are are selling
this about two hundred dollars per treatment where they put
it into your veins and you sit there and you
get this big high dose injections, and they generally sell
that under the claim that it boosts overall immunity and
good health. That again, as I'm told, there's not really
(06:37):
any evidence that having that big of a dose is
necessary any more than just eating regular fruits and vegetables
in a normal, good diet. It is generally safe. I mean,
I've not heard any bad complications or people get this
or any real horror stories about a vitamin C injection.
But I guess the biggest risk that would be here
(06:57):
spending two hundred dollars and something you might not really
need much more than having a lot of broccoliar strawberries
in your diet. Right, you have to be aware of
the hype. Brent Scroton, board investigative reporter at the USA Today,
thank you very much for joining us. Thank you appreciate it.
I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't
(07:18):
forget today's big news stories. You can check me out
on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday Friday. So follow
us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.
It's Wednesday, July. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive
podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. Vitamin
C is having a moment during the pandemic and sales
are surgy, but you have to watch out for some
offering it up as a coronavirus treatment. The FTC and
FBI are investigating health clinics and wellness centers for overhyping
(00:22):
high dose i V infusions of vitamin C as a
way to prevent or treat COVID nineteen. Brent scroten boor
investigative reporter at USA Today, joins us for more. Thanks
for joining us, Brent, Thank you appreciate it. Vitamin C
seems to be having a moment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sales of vitamin C supplements have gone up to about
(00:44):
two million dollars in the first half of that's up
seventy compared to the same period last year. I know,
just anecdotally for myself, as soon as all the hoarding
was going on and people were doing all this panic buying,
my wife right away bought up a bunch of VITAM
and see stuff too that it's good for you. But
there's actually a lot of instances where people are selling
(01:07):
vitamin C by i V. They're making these false claims
that it can help treat COVID nineteen. The FTC has
had to get involved with shutting down some of these people.
There was even an FBI raid on somebody who was
doing these vitamin C by IVY treatments. Brent tell us
a little bit about that. It's interesting it's sort of
(01:28):
taken almost like, uh, like a cult status. It almost
seems like a religion. Via vitamin C has almost become
a religion if people really want to believe it does
this and that in the scary time of pandemic. And
you should stay right off the top. I mean, vitamin
C is very good for you. Everybody needs it. It's
an essential nutrient. It does help your immunity. It's found
(01:50):
in fruits and vegetables. And if you eat a lot
of fruits and vegetables and you're you're gonna probably have
a pretty good immune system and good overall health. So
let's just make this clear. Vit MUC is good, okay,
I mean, there's nothing really bad about it. You can
take a lot of it and probably the worst that's
going to happen is you don't need all that you
that you think you do, that you might be overtaking it,
(02:11):
but that you might just come out of your body
in natural ways and not really have any effect. And
so it's important is to establish that. But what the
pandemic has done is that there's a there's fear out
there about this visible disease that nobody knows how to
cure prevent right now, and so people are kind of
grasping at things that they think they know or think
could help. And probably very predictably, we're seeing businesses that
(02:34):
are going to try to push the envelope and try
to say that that mainlining vitamin C into your veins
is going to prevent or cure COVID nineteen and there's
just no evidence to support that. And and so we've
seen like the federal government cracked down on it because
you know, like the Federal Trade Commission has been investigating
different businesses and what they say and how they advertise.
(02:57):
They regulate against deceptive business practice is a deceptive advertising,
and they founded dozens of businesses like wellness clinics. Let's
say that if you inject this into your vein through
an IV you are going to prevent yourself from getting COVID, etcetera. FBI,
as you mentioned, they rated a doctor's office near Detroit
(03:18):
in April where the this doctor was very avid about
this treatment. He was injecting us into their veins and
saying it helped with COVID, and he was also billing
medic here for it. And he's not supposed to do
that because it's not it's not not an approved thing
to bill medic here for something that and that's don't
really work. And that's probably where it started really going
(03:39):
downhill because they're seeing these treatments for COVID nineteen. I
think that's the way he was presenting them even in
the building process, and that's where it's going to draw
a lot of scrutiny. But you write about how there's
a history of misunderstanding with vitamin C and as you
mentioned where you know, I'm not taking away from it,
as you mentioned at the top, it is good for you.
But where did it oh, where it got this cult
(04:02):
status that probably can be traced back to the nineteen
seventy when a guy, a scientist named the Linus Pauling
published a book called vitamin C and the common cold,
and he basically theorized that you take higher doses of it,
it's going to give you better defenses. And that has
been the subject of debate. Some say that's been discredited.
(04:24):
Some say, well, it's arguable that it didn't get enough testing,
the tests about it weren't that good, and that there
have been studies that have shown that while it can't
prevent the common cold, which there is no cure for
the common cold, there are some indications that in evidence
that it could reduce the severity of a coal or
or the duration of it. And just in the general
(04:46):
sense that because you need vitamin C is a general
essential nutrient, it's going to give you better immunity in general.
It's just as far as making specific claims about it
about helping against this can Asian or disease is where
it gets a little bit dice here. There. There is
actually a Linus Palling Institute at at Oregon State University
(05:08):
that that's involved in studying exactly how vitamins can and
can't help, and and one of the guys there told
me that there just hasn't been enough regulars study to
know exactly how much of a benefit it provides for
certain things, and that's where you know, we get into
the stuff that was theorized back in the seventies. Is
(05:29):
you know, I don't think it's been totally disproven, but
it just needs a lot more rigorous study to know
exactly what it's doing. Yeah, there's even clinical trials involving
COVID nineteen vitamin C, but those could take years before
reaching any conclusion. But people are still thinking it works.
There was a March survey they said of people in
the US thought to take vitamincy probably or definitely prevented
(05:52):
COVID nineteen infection. So the thought is out there, but
you just gotta know that vitamin C is not a
proved treatment for COVID nineteen or preventative for COVID nineteen.
One of these things that's taken on a lot more
popularity in recent years and especially now during the pandemic
is these I V treatments. So you can you can
(06:13):
find a lot of these in a lot of cities
through wellness centers or naturopathic doctors that are are selling
this about two hundred dollars per treatment where they put
it into your veins and you sit there and you
get this big high dose injections, and they generally sell
that under the claim that it boosts overall immunity and
good health. That again, as I'm told, there's not really
(06:37):
any evidence that having that big of a dose is
necessary any more than just eating regular fruits and vegetables
in a normal, good diet. It is generally safe. I mean,
I've not heard any bad complications or people get this
or any real horror stories about a vitamin C injection.
But I guess the biggest risk that would be here
(06:57):
spending two hundred dollars and something you might not really
need much more than having a lot of broccoliar strawberries
in your diet. Right, you have to be aware of
the hype. Brent Scroton, board investigative reporter at the USA Today,
thank you very much for joining us. Thank you appreciate it.
I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't
(07:18):
forget today's big news stories. You can check me out
on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday Friday. So follow
us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.
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