ALMOST excluded sublingual Vitamin B2 from my diet last month after the second close encounter with fainting in about two weeks. The first spell occurred just after lunch in the office. Suddenly, I remembered that I had not taken sublingual Vitamin B2 which is a part of my dietary food supplement whenever my ophthalmologist spots cataract developing in the corner of the eye lens. This day, I felt too lazy to place the Vitamin tablet under the tongue and move it from one spot to another, as it is used, until it all dissolves and passes into the bloodstream from there. Rather, I swallowed it with water. In about five minutes, I felt a powerful wave of acid rise from one part of my stomach and rapidly spread. My eyes were closing on their own. My nerves were tremulous. My brain became foggy and light. I knew I was fainting. With the little consciousness and energy I had left, I summoned first aid to my aid. I opened the buttons of my top dress to obtain more fresh air, feebly massaged with fingers the dimples on both sides of my cheek near the eye level to get more blood to my head and then wrung my toes and ankles to boost energy flow up my trunk by improving metabolism. I told the women around me I was fainting. They sprang to their feet. Mrs Bukola Azeez, CEO of Budget Travels, got water. Mrs Rashida Kekereekun got milk and malt drink. Tolulope Christiana Arogundade was too frightened to remember that I had in my office some fresh jars of Activated Charcoal which helps immensely in food poisoning of this sort and similar situations of gastritis or ulcer pain or of troubles in the abdomen. In all my 67years, I have not experienced pain of this nature that was so acute, rapid, almost suffocating and killing within minutes. And quite naturally, when I was back on my feet, I immediately called the doctor who sold the Vitamin to me. He has a vast knowledge of nutritional medicine that I doff my hat for. I wanted to know if taking sublingual Vitamin B through the stomach and not from under the tongue could have such an impact as I experienced. He did not think so. Rather, he thought I would merely absorb less of it and that would be a waste of money. The stubborn person that I may be when it comes to experimenting with food supplements, I again took my sublingual Vitamin B2 through the stomach a few days later…and nothing happened. So, what could have gone wrong the last time? Whatever it was would come to light in about one week. I had just had a dinner of bananas about five days later when the answer popped up. The day before, I had thrown away the bananas I bought on the way home for dinner because I did not like the smell. This evening, the banana did not smell bad. But as soon as I ate the third or fourth one, that awful acid flood erupted again. I was alone in the house. I quickly opened the house door and the small entrance gate, just in case I would need help. I rushed to the kitchen for palm oil, holding my stomach and crying and struggling not to collapse. In the confusion, I did not know if it was palm oil I was smelling. I dropped the bottle so I did not take the wrong remedy. I couldn’t go upstairs for Activated Charcoal because I may fall on the stairway. Luckily I had a bottle of diatom in the sitting-room. I gulped about one or two tablespoons of this powder and then washed it down with water, more water…and more water still. The effect was like throwing surfing or bubbling detergent soap on a fire. My stomach began to cool off. I removed my top dress for fresh air, walked out of the house towards the nearest provision store, holding my stomach, in a search for palm oil, a poison antidote. (I learned of palm oil remedy from the survivors of Lake Nyos volcanic eruption in The Cameroon Mountain a few decades ago. Many people died of gas poisoning. Some of the survivors said they were drinking palm oil or honey as they were fleeing). But mid-way to this store, I experienced enough respite that encouraged me to return home so I did not get the neighbours talking. By this time, the time was about 9:30p.m.
Carbonic Acid
What I experienced was carbonic acid poisoning. The banana was force-ripened in a sack-load of bananas and carbide chips. In this manner, banana sellers get immature green bananas to soften and appear edible within 24hours of this treatment. Plantain sellers do it also. It gives them business and money everyday instead of about two or three times a week. I had heard so much about carbonic acid poisoning but had only just personally experienced it. It lands many people in hospital. It may damage the stomach or the intestine if the poisoned person does not receive help in good time.
Automobile panel beaters place carbide in water to generate acetylene gas which they burn to weld metals. Carbide in the stomach reacts with water also to produce this gas and with hydrochloric acid to produce a more dangerous acid. In the sewage business, carbide is used to burn feaces in pit toilets or soak-aways. Its chemical name is Calcium Carbide.
According to Dr. Liang Hai Sie, retired general internist, former intensive care physician:
“Calcium carbide is extremely hazardous to the human body as it contains traces of arsenic and phosphorus. It is banned in many countries of the world, but it is freely used in India, Pakistan, Nepal and other countries. Thus, we are at risk of short term and long-term health effects simply by eating fruits that are induced to ripen. Calcium carbide (CaC2) is used to easily generate low levels of ethylene gas which can hasten the ripening of fruits like banana, mango et.c. Ethylene gas is only dangerous if inhaled greater than 33percent concentration, which we would find in after-use, but the contaminants arsenic and phosphorus hydride are the dangers to look out for.”
Dr. Liang Hai Sei says the early symptoms of arsenic or phosphorus hydride poisoning may include “vomiting, diarrhoea, with or without blood, burning sensation of the chest and abdomen, thirst, weakness, difficulty in swallowing, irritations or burning in the eyes and skin, permanent eye damage, ulcers on the skin, irritation in the mouth, nose and throat. Throat sore, cough, wheezing and shortness of breath may also occur soon after exposure to the chemical. Higher exposure may cause a build up of fluids in the lungs”.
The warnings continue: “Eating artificially ripened mangoes causes stomach upsets because the alkaline substance is an irritant that erodes the mucosal tissue in the stomach and disrupts intestinal function. Chronic exposure to the chemical could lead to peptic ulcer. As CaC2 initiates acetylene gas, it may affect the neurological system by inducing prolonged hypozia in the body.”
Hypozia is a state of oxygen deficiency with many symptoms, including dizziness, tiredness and pain.
Dr. Liang Hai Sei says that recently, carbide food poisoning has been related to “headache, dizziness, mood disturbances, sleepiness, mental convulsion, memory loss, cerebral oedema and seizure. Though eating the fruits would not bring about such an allergic reaction, the method of ripening could cause such problems”.
In India, the calcium carbide is sold in sachets called MASALA. A sachet is placed in every carton of green mangoes to make them ripen within 24hours. Although a law bans the use of calcium carbide in the ripening of fruits, the practice is widespread underground. It will not be surprising if MASALA has found its way to Nigeria.
In Nigeria, we eat all sorts of poisoned food, and this may be the reason all sorts of diseases are hitting heavily at the population. There is a particular monosodium glutamate (MSG), a taste enhancer, known to bleach coloured dresses to white which is a popular ingredient in canteen or restaurant food. Sometimes, I imagine if this may not be a cause of the growing number of eye problems in hospitals. For if this MSG can bleach clothes, will it not bleach delicate cells of the eyes as well? I do not trust even the corn sellers. Their trick is to pass on thier wares as “today’s” corn. They cook it with an arsenal of nails to soften it. They add saccharine, a suspected carcinogen, to the water to sweeting the corn! Water melon is injected with a dye to make it reddish and appealing to the eye. Apples are waxed to make them solid for a long time. And unless you immerse them in boiling water to de-wax them, you’d be eating chemicals with the good, old apples. Poultry egg suffers the same fate. The feed of the chickens is loaded with dyes to give the yolk a super yellow colour. What of ground pepper? It is diluted with Colanut powder! And palm oil? It comes with reddish dyes! The only way out of this poisoned world, as I often suggest, is to keep an arsenal of antioxidants and detoxifyers at home for inclusion in the diet. I wonder what would have become of me last month if I did not have DIATOM and ACTIVATED CHARCOAL at home. To these should be added stuff such as CHLORELLA and WHEAT GRASS. And, of course, GERMAN CHAMOMILE which calms the nerves, as these poisons cause nerve damage. I shouldn’t forget to mention LION’S MANE MUSHROOM as well. It supports the brain to make Nerve Growth Hormone or Nerve Growth Factor which improves nerve energy and helps the repair of damaged nerves.
sublingual B2
If sublingual Vitamin B2 were personal, I would tender my unreserved apology for linking it to my first experience with calcium carbide poisoning last month.
I learned about the importance of Vitamin B2 in the prevention and cure of cataracts of the eye lens about 1980 from Dr. Robert Atkins, now of blessed memory, one of the frontier-moving conventional doctors in the United States who paved the way for Alternative Medicine ingress in that country.
In his VITA NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS, Dr. Atkins says: the amino acid Lysine slows damage of blood sugar to the eye lens which results in cataracts. He suggests that while beta carotene is good for vision, it is Lutein and Zeazanthin “are the dominant carotenoids that protect our eyes. They are concentrated especially in the macular, our true center of sight at the back of the retina. Because of their yellowish colour, Lutein and Zeazanthin are particularly adept at absorbing the damaging blue rays from the light spectrum. Lutein also seems to be better than beta carotene at heading off free radicals harm to fats inside the eyes. If consumed regularly from Kale, Collard greens, Spinach and other leafy green vegetables, the two carotenoids are unbeatable combination. Not only can they ward off cataracts, but they can also cut by 57percent the risks for macular degeneration, a deterioration of central vision that is responsible for about one-third of all new cases of blindness every year”.
Apologies if I have drifted from Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin). Dr. Atkins was versatile. I read his book about 1980. It was only about 2000 onwards that many ophthalmologists began to let their patients take Lutein and Zeazanthin, abundant in Marigold flower (as shown last week for their vision).
Dr. Atkins says Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) is a “superstar player” on the B-complex roster”. He believes without B2, the B complex would not be a star food metabolizer, food and cell guards. It helps the conversion of Vitamin B6 to its active form. It supports the activation of glutathione, one of the body’s three basic antioxidants.
He says Riboflavin and Glutathione are so related that glutathione’s levels are often measured by Riboflavin’s levels. Riboflavin is crucial in the “natural approach to preventing and beating cataract”. During a stroke or a heart attack, Riboflavin “limits the cell damage and minimises respiratory injuries from various toxins”. Even sickle cell anaemia “improves when Riboflavin which guards our red blood cells is included”. Iron absorption may be impaired, and the thyroid gland may be weakened by Riboflavin deficiency. Some studies, says Dr. Atkins, suggest that “a B2 deficiency increases the likelihood of depression and/or other mental health problems.”
The Dr. Edward Group corroborates Dr. Atkins’s conclusions. In this group are doctors and researchers in prominent American universities and other institutions. It says, for example, that children and adults who obtain little or no Riboflavin in the diet tend to have more headaches and migraines. They quote the National Institute of Health as suggesting that “people who get more Riboflavin along with Niacin may have a lower risk of getting cataracts”. Iron absorption and red blood formation are promoted by Riboflavin.
Dr. Axe, writing under the subject FOOD MEDICINE, lists some signs of Riboflavin deficiency as:
“Signs of Vitamin B2 deficiency can include anaemia, fatigue, nerve damage, a sluggish metabolism, mouth or lip sores and cracks, skin inflammation and skin disorders especially around the nose and face, inflamed mouth and tongue, sore throat, swelling of mucus membranes, change in mood such as increased anxiety and sign of depression.”
Dr. Atkins said in his days: “Most doctors know only the superficial sign of B2 deficiency, including cracks at the corners of the mouth and difficulty in adjusting to darkness and bright light. My suspicious arose when I find out that someone eats a diet high in carbohydrates. Wholegrains, it is true, are good sources of the nutrient, but refined flours, even if fortified, are not.
I am happy I recognised in good time that my food poisoning was caused not by a Riboflavin supplement but by calcium carbide reacting with water in my stomach to form a more toxic acid and gas.
The lesson in this for everyone ought to be that, everyday, our bodies are degraded by poisoned food, air and water, not to mention negative emotional responses to events around us. While our bodies may struggle to overcome these challenges, they do not succeed 100percent. We can aid them with daily intake of antioxidants and detoxifiers to hit the upper mark. We should remember that that left over or remainder is that “something that must kill a man someday”. That “something” may be accumulations of carbide or arsenic in the system.
