No one can PROVE that Vitamin C cures scurvy, and no one can prove that marijuana or cottage cheese cures cancer. The medical establishment functions without a definition of cured, except for some communicable diseases. As a result, all cure claims of non-communicable diseases are only that, claims without proof.

There is no medical test for scurvy cured. There is no medical test for cancer cured.

I have no doubt that “Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins: Curing the Incurable” and also by Dr Levy: “Optimal Nutrition for Optimal Health” are very good resources and it is possible that they describe many cures accurately,

However,

His books are simply ignored by the medical establishment, as Dr Levy himself admits. None of his cure claims have been proven to the extent that they are recognized and published in authoritative medical texts. It is unfortunate, but true, that Dr Levy has written his entire set of books without a useful functional definition of CURED that is accepted by the medical establishment, without even realizing that there is no test for cured for the diseases he claims to cure.

Claims of cure, without a definition of cured, are viewed as quack cures, even if they actually work. Claims of cured, without a definition of cured, are seen as pseudoscience, quackery – and that is how the books of Dr Levy are seen by most members of the medical establishment. Sad, but true.

If the medical establishment ever makes an honest effort to define scurvy cured, it will be obvious what does, and what does not cure scurvy. Vitamin C supplements cannot cure scurvy, because a lack of Vitamin C supplements is not the cause. When supplements are used to “treat” scurvy, the patient must be supplemented for the rest of their life unless their diet also changes.

Medical reference texts, like Merck, Lange’s and Harrisons cannot agree on the dosage, nor the duration required to “treat” vitamin C, much less define scurvy cured. Lots of texts “claim” that Vitamin C cures scurvy – but all claims exist without proof, without a test that can prove a case of scurvy has been cured.

The quote from the FDA website does not state that you cannot apply to use such a statement on your product, such as ‘vitamin C cures scurvy’. The statement is that you will have to apply and go through the process. The FDA does not pre-approve such claims, and one would have to say how wide spread it is etc. But with vitamin C and scurvy, the government’s own websites state that vitamin C cures scurvy, so one should have no trouble at all. Just fulfill the necessary bureaucracy.

“Nutrient deficiency disease claims describe a benefit related to a nutrient deficiency disease (like vitamin C and scurvy), but such claims are allowed only if they also say how widespread such a disease is in the United States. These three types of claims are not pre-approved by FDA, but the manufacturer must have substantiation that the claim is truthful and not misleading and must submit a notification with the text of the claim to FDA no later than 30 days after marketing the dietary supplement with the claim. If a dietary supplement label includes such a claim, it must state in a “disclaimer” that FDA has not evaluated the claim. The disclaimer must also state that the dietary supplement product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease,” because only a drug can legally make such a claim.” (from the FDA website)

And now a legal definition of drug or drug substance:

Drug substance means “an active ingredient that is intended to furnish pharmacological activity or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the human body, but does not include intermediates use in the synthesis of such ingredient.” [21 CFR 314.3; Title 21-Food And Drugs; Chapter I-Food And Drug Administration, Department Of Health And Human Services; Subchapter D-Drugs For Human Use; Part 314-Applications For Fda Approval To Market A New Drug; Subpart A-General Provisions]

The legal definition of drug includes vitamin C, as well as other nutrients, and vitamins. This is pointed out in pharmacology textbooks, such as Goodman and Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Twelfth Edition.

It is clear that within the legal processes of the FDA, one may apply for approval, to market vitamin C with a label noting that ‘vitamin C is a cure for scurvy’, because the governments own website states vitamin C cures scurvy. So one could go the supplement route. Or one could go the over-the -counter drug route, as vitamin C is also a drug, by law. If you fulfill the bureaucratic processes, then you may receive approval. There is no explicit statement that you cannot receive approval, only that you have to go through all the processes. Then you may get approval. There is no explicit statement that you cannot go through the process.

Even the government’s own websites note that vitamin C is a cure for scurvy.

The government, the US/FDA stance on CURE is clear and totally bureaucratic. If you market a treatment that claims to cure, you must provide evidence to the US/FDA, and your claim must be approved by the US/FDA. The US/FDA does not test cures, it approves or refuses to approve claims for drugs. If your evidence is accepted, your product becomes a “drug” in US/FDA language.

The US/FDA Labeling Guidelines clearly state, with regards to Vitamin C and scurvy:

“General well-being claims describe general well-being from consumption of a nutrient or dietary ingredient. Nutrient deficiency disease claims describe a benefit related to a nutrient deficiency disease (like vitamin C and scurvy), but such claims are allowed only if they also say how widespread such a disease is in the United States. These three types of claims are not pre-approved by FDA, but the manufacturer must have substantiation that the claim is truthful and not misleading and must submit a notification with the text of the claim to FDA no later than 30 days after marketing the dietary supplement with the claim. If a dietary supplement label includes such a claim, it must state in a “disclaimer” that FDA has not evaluated the claim. The disclaimer must also state that the dietary supplement product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease,” because only a drug can legally make such a claim.”

Note: “the disclaimer MUST ALSO STATE .. that the product (eg. Vitamin C) is not intended to ‘diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease’ (eg. scurvy) because only a drug can legally make such a claim.

The US/FDA is right that Vitamin C supplements cannot cure scurvy, but their logic is nonsense. Vitamin C supplements do not cure scurvy because they do not address the cause.

Cure and cured are clearly defined for antibiotics and antifungal medicines. The illness is cured when the cause – the bacteria or fungus infection – has been addressed. If cured, and the patient acquires another infection, it’s clearly a new infection. Cures by antibiotics can be, and are tested in clinical studies.

Cured is not defined in a testable fashion for any other illness or treatment.

Anyone can claim a cure for arthritis, diabetes, cancer, or scurvy, without any evidence of, or need for proof. All cure claims are simply ignored. If someone claims Vitamin C supplements cure scurvy – no one cares, because the cure appears obvious (even when it is clearly wrong). If someone claims to cure arthritis or cancer or diabetes, nobody cares because no cure can be proven and all such cures are assumed to be invalid.

Cured is not defined, therefore all cure claims are ignored. Medical reference text editors know this and do not claim cure for any disease – except for communicable diseases – eg those caused by bacteria, fungus, etc.

The cause of scurvy is clearly an unhealthy diet – and the only, and obvious cure for scurvy is to address the unhealthy diet. Curing with Vitamin C is a stop-gap measure, which fails when the patient returns to their unhealthy diet without a steady supply of Vitamin C. A steady supply of Vitamin C supplements is not a cure, it is a crutch.

The US/FDA and the medical establishment refuse to acknowledge the cure for scurvy for a simple reason. The cure for scurvy is not a medicine.

The cure for scurvy is health, a healthy diet.

to your health, tracy
Founder: Healthicine
Author: A Calculus of Curing

Thank you Sci-reader for posting.

Another reference: from Mosby’s:
Cure [L. cura]. 1. Restoration to health of a person afflicted with a disease or other disorder. 2. The favorable outcome of the treatment of a disease or other disorder. 3. A course of therapy, a medication, a therapeutic measure, or another remedy used in treatment of a medical problem, as faith healing, fasting, rest cure, or work cure. Mosby’s Medical, Nursing & Allied Health Dictionary. Sixth edition. Copyright 2002 by Mosby, Inc. ISBN 0-323-01430-5

Mosby’s has ~85 consultants with professional qualifications such as MD, RN, PhD, etc, that edit, contribute or otherwise inform their dictionary, listed in the front pages. They have much more authoritative and official weight than the word of Tracy Kolenchuk. Tracy Kolenchuk is not an official source of information on anything that I know of. If he is, prove the significance, weight, authoritativeness or other reason by which anyone should take his word.

Tracy Kolenchuk: “If a sailor is working on a ship with a crappy diet and gets scurvy, and a doctor “treats” the scurvy with Vitamin C – the signs and symptoms will disappear. But as soon as the sailor goes off the medicine, the disease reemerges. It was never cured.”

This is an abuse of the concepts of disease, cure, and disease re-emergence, more misinterpretations. (See Mosby’s definition, as well.) It’s parallel to saying that malnutrition is never cured, which is an absurdity. Tracy Kolenchuk is not an authority on anything that I know of.

Tracy Kolenchuk: “There is no “medical” definition of cure, and no scientific definition of cure.”
Of course there are medical and scientific definitions of cure, just as there are for treatment and other terms. You’re just misinterpreting and dismissing the valid dictionaries, written by scientists, medical doctors and other professionals. Over 200,000 articles written by scientists and doctors on the NCBI website use the term cure.

Merck’ Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, Lange’s Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, and Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine all recommend Vitamin C as a “treatment” for scurvy. Not one uses the word cure. Why not? Because it doesn’t cure scurvy.

If a sailor is working on a ship with a crappy diet and gets scurvy, and a doctor “treats” the scurvy with Vitamin C – the signs and symptoms will disappear. But as soon as the sailor goes off the medicine, the disease reemerges. It was never cured. Vitamin C can convert scurvy from a disease to a managed chronic disease – if it is taken forever, but it cannot cure. The patient will eventually suffer other diseases from the crappy diet, scurvy being simply the first to appear.

The 1950 edition of MERCK uses the word cure with regards to infantile scurvy, because the infant’s diet generally changes – the actual cure – during the treatment period.

re: Elemental illness. I created the term elemental illness, as an illness with a single cause. I did not create the concept. I am certain many others have used the concept, without a distinguishing term. Jon used it in this post, but he used the term “disease”. I created the term to clarify and distinguish between concepts of illnesses and diseases with multiple causes, and an illness with a single cause. There is nothing magical, and nothing underhanded about it. It is simply a term to clarify between different types of illness.

BTW; I’m curious which edition of Webster’s you used, because Webster’s New World Medical Dictionary, Third Edition, 2008, does not contain the word cure. I have found at least 7 medical dictionaries that do not contain entries for cure – even though two of them define incurable using the word cure. Cure is defined in standard dictionaries, and many medical dictionaries simply copy these definitions. There is no “medical” definition of cure, and no scientific definition of cure.

No standard reference work that I checked has an entry for ‘elemental illness’. What book or reference refers to elemental illness besides yourself? ( -nothing in wikipedia, nothing in books could be found either) If you have made this up yourself you should say so.