All You Ever Wanted To Know About Vitamin C - Condensed

What Is Vitamin C And It’s Benefits

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water soluble vitamin that the human body does not have the ability to make on its own. Vitamin C must come from our diet or supplements.

Vitamin C, is a highly effective anti-oxidant that is also required for the synthesis of several key functions in the body such as collagen, which is an important structural element of blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and bone. It also plays an important role in the synthesis of the neurotransmitter, norepinephrine which is critical to brain function and mood; carnitine, a small molecule that is essential for the transport of fat to cellular organelles called mitochondria for conversion to energy; and recent research indicate that vitamin c is involved with the metabolism of cholesterol to bile acids which may have impact upon blood cholesterol and the incidence of gallstones.

Even in small amounts, vitamin C can protect indispensable molecules in the body such as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) from damage by free radicals and reactive oxygen species that can be generated during normal metabolism as well as due to exposure to pollutants and toxins. Vitamin C has also been linked to regeneration of other antioxidants such as vitamin E.

Natural Sources Of Vitamin C

Good food sources for vitamin C include a variety of fruits and vegetables (see below), 5 servings of fruits and vegetables with an average serving size of 2 ½ cups each should average out to be approximately 200 mg of vitamin C.

• Orange juice, 6 oz =75 mg or 1 medium Orange = 70 mg
• Grapefruit juice, 6 oz = 60 mg or ½ of a medium grapefruit = 44 mg
• Strawberries, 1 cup, whole = 82 mg
• Tomato, 1 medium = 23 mg
• Sweet red pepper, ½ cup, raw chopped = 141 mg
• Broccoli, ½ cup cooked = 58 mg
• Potato, 1 medium, baked = 26 mg

When it comes to intake there are many forms but very little scientific evidence that any one form is better than the other, natural and synthetic forms of vitamin C appear to have very similar absorption rates and are equally bio-available; mineral salts of ascorbic acid are buffered though and some people find them less irritating to the gastrointestinal tract than plain ascorbic acid.

The recommended daily allowance for vitamin c was recently revised upward based primarily upon the prevention of deficiency disease rather than the prevention of chronic diseases and also for the promotion of optimum health overall. Smokers should add 35 mg per day to the normal RDA for their life stage because smoking causes oxidative stress due to the toxins in cigarette smoke.

Is Vitamin C Deficiency Possible

Severe deficiency of vitamin C is most commonly known as scurvy, which can be a fatal disease. Scurvy symptom include bleeding and bleeding easily, hair and tooth loss, joint pain & swelling, this seems to be related to the weakening of blood vessels, connective tissue and bone, all of which contain collagen. Scurvy can be prevented by as little as 10mg of vitamin c daily.

The amount of vitamin C required to prevent chronic disease appears to be more than required for prevention of scurvy according to prospective studies which assessed large numbers of people over time to determine whether they develop specific chronic diseases. Low or deficient intakes of vitamin C have been associated with coronary heart diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular disease (stroke), high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes mellitus. Some studies show that increased vitamin C consumption is associated with a reduced risk of cancer and cataracts as well as lead toxicity. Vitamin C is has also been used to treat forms of cancer, vasodilations, angina pectoris, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and of course to prevent and treat the common cold.

Is Supplementation Necessary

You can easily get more than the RDI of vitamin C from diet, however vitamin C in larger doses has been shown to have many benefits and therefore it is a popular substance for supplementation.  For example it is recommended to take 750 mg daily to help prevent osteoporosis, the only way to get this amount of vitamin C is through supplementation.

Vitamin C supplements are best taken with meals, it is also recommended to taken them together with other antioxidants such as vitamin E. Vitamin C can also help the body absorb iron to it is recommended to take these two supplements together.

A review by the Cochrane Collaboration found that Vitamin C supplementation has only marginal effectiveness on treating the common cold, and had only a modest effect on reducing the duration of the symptoms.

Side Effects Of Vitamin C

While a number of potential problems with very large doses of vitamin C have been suggested, mainly based on in-vitro experiments or isolated case reports, none of these adverse health effects have actually been confirmed and there is currently no reliable scientific data that large amounts of vitamin C are toxic or detrimental to health.

However some side effects have been reported when taking large amounts of vitamin C such as, flushing, redness, nausea, stomach cramps, loose stools and gas. Mega doses of vitamin C may increase the risk of kidney stones and can cause rebound scurvy if you suddenly stop taking them.  Vitamin C supplements may distort the results of many pathology tests such as urine glucose tests.

Vitamin C may also interfere with certain medications such as warfarin and fluphenazine.

Final Thoughts

Vitamin C is a highly beneficial substance and most people can benefit from some sensible supplementation as there are many reported benefits. However care must be taken to not over-supplement since this can have some side-effects even though nothing has been proven conclusively.