C Ascorbic Acid	Your daily supplement intake is 0 mg

Family	Essential antioxidant vitamin, water soluble		Special Needs Smokers (each cigarette depletes body of 25 mg of vitamin C Pregnant females Growing children to build collagen During chronic or transient infection Cancer patients Aneurysm patients Adults with developing cataracts people with gallstones adults with arterial plaque or calcifications diabetics sun exposed individuals for wound healing and burns for hemorrhage anemic individuals
Source	Usually synthetic from corn syrup (vitamin C is a sugar-like molecule)
Forms	Ascorbic acid, mineral ascorbate (calcium, magnesium, sodium ascorbate)
Best Form	Some individuals who cannot tolerate acidic foods may need to take buffered vitamin C (mineral ascorbates)
Companion Nutrients	Bioflavonoids from citrus rind, grapes, berries. When bioflavonoids equal 70% of vitamin C, prolongs concentration in blood circulation
Typical Diet	110 mg in typical American diet. Diet cannot provide sufficient amounts of vitamin C to maintain adequate health.
Dosage	500 mg five times a day for healthy adults. 10,000+ mg during health challenges. Half-life of vitamin C is ~30 minutes; requires frequent supplementation to maintain blood concentrations; Recommended Dietary Allowance is inadequate. High doses are generally tolerated without side effect. [Nutrition Reviews 57:71-7, 1999].
Potential Benefits	Prevents cataracts, arterial plaque, aneurysms, gallstones, facilitates wound healing, builds collagen.
Absorption	Stomach acid required; better absorbed with food. Vitamin C enhances absorption of iron in plant foods.
Common Deficiency	100%: Every human is deficient. Humanity lost ability to synthesize vitamin C in their liver many generations ago. Most animals still make their own vitamin C.
Deficiency Symptoms	Bleeding gums, skin bruising, anemia, fatigue, hemorrhage (broken capillaries), gallstones, aneurysms, arterial plaque.
Potential Toxicity	May induce water in lower bowel and diarrhea with high-dose supplementation. If this occurs, back off of dose (called bowel tolerance). Human body needs more vitamin C during growth, infection, inflammation, malignancy, wound healing. Need for vitamin C is dynamic with an individuals specific needs.
Conflict	None: negates effect of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs by protecting liver from toxic effects of the drug. All forms of stress decrease vitamin C levels. To check your drug interactions with food or other drugs, see Drug Digest. VSA is not affiliated or agrees all material on this site.

Facts Iron Levels: Vitamin C improves iron absorption from plant foods but has never been shown to cause iron overload. [J Am College Nutrition 14:124-36, 1995] DNA Damage: Vitamin C decreases DNA damage in blood cells of smokers taking daily 500 mg orally, recent study shows. [Eur J Nutr. 43:267-74, 2004] 10,000 mg/day does not induce gene mutations. [Science 293(5537):1993-5, 2001] Kidney Stones: Supplemental Vitamin C does not induce kidney stones. [J Am Soc Nephrology 10:840-5, 1999; Arch Intern Med. 159:619-24, 1999] Rebound Scurvy: Stopping high-dose vitamin C will not induce scurvy because of higher excretion. [Nutrition Reviews 57:71-7, 1999] Excess C: Vitamin C concentrations can reach much higher levels than previously thought possible with repeated supplementation through the day [Annals Internal Medicine140:533-7, 2004] Arthritis.:Human studies indicate high-dose vitamin C reduces arthritic pain. 1000 mg buffered vitamin C reduced joint pain in a Danish study. [Ugeskr Laeger. 165:2563-6, 2003] 300% reduction in risk of osteoarthritis of the knee has been reported among adults with highest vitamin C intake. [Arthritis Rheumatism 39:648-56, 1996]. Saftey: The safety of higher than RDA intakes of vitamin C is confirmed in eight placebo-controlled, double-blind studies and six non-placebo clinical trials in which up to 10,000 mg of vitamin C was consumed daily for up to 3 years. [J Am College Nutrition 14:124-36, 1995]

Latest Info April 2005: Infusions of vitamin C given to morphine-dependant rats reduced their need for this pain killer. [Pathophysiology April 2005] April 2004: Oral vitamin C supplementation can achieve 3 times greater blood serum concentration than previously thought possible. [Annals Internal Medicine140:533-7, 2004] April 2004: 3000 mg/day of vitamin C helps diabetics maintain sugar control. Korean study. [Taehan Kanho Hakhoe Chi. 33:170-8, 2003] 1977-A study dating back to 1977 reveals that 1000 milligrams of vitamin C given to healthy males for 1 month decreased cholesterol from 204 to 177 in young males and from 256 to 225 in middle-aged males, about 10-15%. [Acta Biology 28: 111-14, 1977]