How Much Is 1 000 Mg Of Vitamin C

Is It Ok To Take 1000 Milligrams Of Vitamin C Daily

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Your body needs vitamin C in order to heal skin wounds, build strong bones and teeth and synthesize the collagen needed for making cartilage and blood vessels. As an antioxidant, vitamin C may also lower your risk of cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease and age-related macular degeneration. It’s best to fulfill your vitamin C requirement with fresh fruits and vegetables, says the Linus Pauling Institute, though some people may benefit from supplementation. Vitamin C supplements are available in liquid, tablet, powdered and capsule form. Do not begin using vitamin C supplements until you’ve first talked to your doctor.

Tolerable Upper Intake Level

The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board has set the tolerable upper intake level, or UL, of vitamin C for an adult over 19 years old at 2,000 milligrams per day. This means that unless you regularly consume more than 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C each day — including your intake from both food and supplements — you should not experience any potentially harmful side effects.

There May Be Unexpected Side Effects To Taking Vitamin C

Vitamin C may be a natural substance but that doesnt mean that you wont have any side effects from taking vitamin C or that it is completely safe to take. Common side effects of vitamin C consumption in high doses has the potential to cause insomnia, hemorrhaging, tiredness, headache, rashes, kidney stones, gas, constipation, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and hot flashes.

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Should I Take More Vitamin C When Im Sick

Many people pop vitamin C pills when they feel a cold coming on. Though vitamin C helps the immune system, it does very little for a cold.

A study from the Australian National University found that vitamin C supplements did not prevent colds at all. Supplementation, in a few cases, helped people get over the cold a little bit faster since about 8 percent of participants had one less day of sickness due to vitamin C.

If you want to play it safe and add more vitamin C when youre sick, its still best to do it through food. Add more citrus or greens. Even if the vitamin C doesnt make a difference, the healthy food will help you feel better.

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How Much Vitamin C Can You Absorb At A Time

Leena writes:

I listened with great interest to your recent episode about the role of vitamin C in reducing toxins in the bloodstream. Before I run out the door to get some vitamin C supplements, I have a question about the best way to take it. You said the recommended dose is 1000 mg daily. But could I increase absorption by splitting that into smaller amounts throughout the day?

Leena raises an excellent point. There is, in fact, a limit to how much the vitamin C the body can absorb into its tissues at one time. If you take in 200 mg of vitamin C, virtually all of it will end up in your bloodstream. If you take 1000 mg at one time, a large portion of it will probably end up in your urine. In terms of keeping your blood levels consistently high, taking 500 mg twice a day, or 250 mg four times a day would probably be more effective than taking 1000 mg once a day.

However, the study that I described in my recent podcast on reducing toxins in the bloodstream used a single 1000 mg dose. It would take another study to establish whether breaking that dose into multiple smaller doses would make any difference in reducing PCB levels in your body. It might work better. It might not work as well! For all we know, its the absorption of excess vitamin C by the kidneys that leads to increased excretion of PCBs.

Vitamin C Can Act As A Pro

What is a pro-oxidant? Its the opposite of an antioxidant. Instead of neutralizing reactive oxygen species it creates them by generating oxidative stress. This is a drawback that antioxidants can have to varying degrees, dependent on their concentration and the environment they are in.

In short, a pro-oxidant effect is the opposite of what you want!

Fully describing the Fenton and Haber-Weiss reactions will have to be a topic for another time!

In the case of vitamin C, the concerning reason it can act as a pro-oxidant is because it has been found to reduce metal ions through whats called the Fenton reaction. A symptom of overdose that you cant even detect!

Describing the Fenton reaction in full will make your eyes glaze. The important thing to know about is that its considered one of the most powerful methods of oxidation. This effect has been theorized to be a contributor to Parkinsons, Huntingtons, and Alzheimers diseases, among others.

Its inconclusive whether the thousands of different polyphenol antioxidants, which are non-vitamin micronutrients found in plants, also have the tendency to spur the Fenton reaction. Not to say they dont, but at least to date, theres not evidence to support that and research strongly suggests their antioxidant activity to be quite beneficial for your health.

What makes ascorbic acid unique is that it can recycle ferrous iron ions to continue to generate ROS, with more Fenton cycles. This is why vitamin C and iron is a bad combo.

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Effects Of Mega Doses Of Vitamin C

According to a study, researchers have treated cancer patients with high dosages of vitamin C, through IVC therapy . Scientists gave cancer patients up to 100g of vitamin C a day! Thats 100,000 mg. 100 times more vitamin C than a dosage of 1,000 mg or 100,000 times the recommended daily intake of vitamin C Thats a huge dose. So, what happened to these patients?

Regarding cancer, researchers observed:

• improvement in the quality of life,
• improved tolerance of conventional therapy,
• deterioration in clinical condition, in the absence of vitamin C dosage.

The side effects of mega dosages of vitamin C seem to be minimal, though. Patients experienced symptoms of Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. This is a reaction of the body to endotoxins produced by the necrosis of harmful cells. Fever, chills, strong body odor, and pimples may be other side effects.

Dont forget that these side effects happened to cancer patients, after megadoses of vitamin C. Symptoms resolved after 2 to 3 hours, after injection with vitamin C.

On the other hand, therapy with high dosages of vitamin C may:

• stabilize cancer,
• have anti tumor activity in some cases,
• help patients regain strength, even walking again

The Scientific Evidence That Vitamin C Induces Miscarriages Is Not There

As of the current time, no clinical studies have been done on the use of vitamin C or ascorbic acid to induce a miscarriage. The only evidence youll find is anecdotal evidence from herbalists or from people who have successfully used vitamin C to cause an intentional miscarriage. It doesnt mean that drinking orange juice in the morning will cause you to have a miscarriage and it doesnt mean that you should count on vitamin C to cause a miscarriage should you become pregnant. There is no credibility to the claims youll find on the internet to indicate that the taking of vitamin C results in a miscarriage.

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How To Take It

The best way to take vitamin C supplements is 2 – 3 times per day, with meals, depending on the dosage. Some studies suggest that adults should take 250 – 500 mg twice a day for any benefit. Talk to your doctor before taking more than 1,000 mg of vitamin C on a daily basis and before giving vitamin C to a child.

Daily intake of dietary vitamin C is listed below.

Pediatric

• Men over 18 years: 90 mg
• Women over 18 years: 75 mg
• Pregnant women 14 – 18 years: 80 mg
• Pregnant women over 18 years: 85 mg
• Breastfeeding women 14 – 18 years: 115 mg
• Breastfeeding women over 18 years: 120 mg

Because smoking depletes vitamin C, people who smoke may need an additional 35 mg per day.

The dose recommended to prevent or treat many of the conditions mentioned in the Uses section is often 500 – 1,000 mg per day.

Side Effects Of Vitamin C Supplementation

Many studies have shown no significant adverse health effects to humans, from vitamin C supplementation. People who may experience some discomfort, are those who have:

• a history of kidney stone formation,
• iron overload,
• taken other drugs, as well.

Side effects may be diarrhea, gastrointestinal disturbances due to the osmotic effect of unabsorbed vitamin C, or mild nausea.

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How To Find Out The Conversion Value

If you want to find out how many micrograms or milligrams are in one IU of your medication, you could contact your pharmacist to find out. As an alternative, you could try contacting the drug manufacturer directly. For a vitamin, consider contacting the vitamin manufacturer – their contact information is usually listed on the bottle.

How Much Vitamin C Is Too Much

Since vitamin C is water-soluble and your body excretes excess amounts of it within a few hours after you consume it, its quite difficult to consume too much.

In fact, it is nearly impossible for you to get too much vitamin C from your diet alone. In healthy people, any extra vitamin C consumed above the recommended daily amount simply gets flushed out of the body .

To put it in perspective, you would need to consume 29 oranges or 13 bell peppers before your intake reached the tolerable upper limit (

19 ).

All the adverse effects of vitamin C, including digestive distress and kidney stones, appear to occur when people take it in mega doses greater than 2,000 mg .

If you choose to take a vitamin C supplement, it is best to choose one that contains no more than 100% of your daily needs. Thats 90 mg per day for men and 75 mg per day for women .

Summary:

Its nearly impossible to consume too much vitamin C from food. However, if youre supplementing with this vitamin, you can minimize your risk of getting too much by taking no more than 90 mg per day if youre a man, or 75 mg per day if youre a woman.

Vitamin C is generally safe for most people.

This is especially true if you get it from foods, rather than supplements.

Individuals who take vitamin C in supplement form are at greater risk of consuming too much of it and experiencing side effects, the most common of which are digestive symptoms.

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Can You Be Allergic To Vitamin C

Technically, no. The isolated vitamin of ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for human health and you would die without it. However you can have an allergic reaction to vitamin C tablets, face cream, serum, and drinks containing it. Since ascorbic acid is often made using corn, those with an allergy to that plant are at risk.

Allergy to vitamin C causes are unlikely to be from corn since that is a very rare allergy. Plus, the potential amount of allergens remaining residual protein matter from the plant would likely be in a concentration of only parts per million . If you are experiencing ascorbic acid intolerance its likely you are allergic to another ingredient in that supplement, fortified food, or skin cream.

On a related note, theres a strong likelihood the corn used is genetically modified. If you want non-GMO ascorbic acid, then make sure the packaging is labeled as such. Organic food-derived sources will always be non-GMO.

Thoughts On How Much Vitamin C Can You Absorb At A Time

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Linus Pauling Institute Recommendation

Combined evidence from metabolic, pharmacokinetic, and observational studies, and from randomized controlled trials supports consuming sufficient vitamin C to achieve plasma concentrations of at least 60 mol/L. While most generally healthy young adults can achieve these plasma concentrations with daily vitamin C intake of at least 200 mg/day, some individuals may have a lower vitamin C absorptive capacity than what is currently documented. Thus, the Linus Pauling Institute recommends a vitamin C intake of 400 mg daily for adults to ensure replete tissue concentrations an amount substantially higher than the RDA yet with minimal risk of side effects.

This recommendation can be met through food if the diet includes at least several servings of vitamin C-rich fruit and vegetables as part of the daily recommended fruit and vegetable intake . Most multivitamin supplements provide at least 60 mg of vitamin C.

Older adults

Copyright 2000-2021 Linus Pauling Institute

How Much Do I Need

Vitamin C dissolves in water and is not stored in the body, so we do need a consistent supply to maintain adequate levels, says registered dietitian Jillian Greaves. The recommended daily intake is about 75 mg per day for women and 90 mg per day for men. For women, you could get more than your daily requirement by eating one kiwi and men could have half a papaya and call it a day.

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Vitamin C Tablets 500 Mg 250 Count

Prices and availability are subject to change without notice. Offers are specific to store listed above and limited to in-store. Promotions, discounts, and offers available in stores may not be available for online orders. The information provided on this website, including special diets and nutritional information, is for reference purposes and not intended as medical or healthcare information or advice. Actual product packaging and materials may contain more and/or different information than shown on our website. You should not rely solely on the information presented here and you should always read labels, warnings, and directions before using or consuming a product. The information provided on this website should not be relied upon to make health-related decisions.

Too Much Vitamin C May Cause Digestive Symptoms

The most common side effect of high vitamin C intake is digestive distress.

In general, these side effects do not occur from eating foods that contain vitamin C, but rather from taking the vitamin in supplement form.

Youre most likely to experience digestive symptoms if you consume more than 2,000 mg at once. Thus, a tolerable upper limit of 2,000 mg per day has been established (

Summary

Ingesting more than 2,000 mg of vitamin C per day may lead to gastrointestinal upset, including symptoms like diarrhea and nausea.

Vitamin C is known to enhance iron absorption.

It can bind to non-heme iron, which is found in plant foods. Non-heme iron is not absorbed by your body as efficiently as heme iron, the type of iron found in animal products .

Vitamin C binds with non-heme iron, making it much easier for your body to absorb. This is an important function, especially for individuals who get most of their iron from plant-based foods .

One study in adults found that iron absorption increased by 67% when they took 100 mg of vitamin C with a meal .

However, individuals with conditions that increase the risk of iron accumulation in the body, such as hemochromatosis, should be cautious with vitamin C supplements.

Under these circumstances, taking vitamin C in excess may lead to iron overload, which can cause serious damage to your heart, liver, pancreas, thyroid, and central nervous system .

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Dont Exceed The Recommended Dosage

While getting plenty of vitamin C in your diet won’t cause you any harm , Harvard Health discourages anyone taking supplements to not exceed the upper limit of the vitamin C dosage per day. This is because excessive supplemental vitamin C could be too much at one time, and your body can’t excrete it quickly enough.

While the vitamin C dosage for adults that is typically found in a supplement might be far higher than the 75 milligrams a day that adults actually need, you don’t need to worry until you exceed the upper limit of 2,000 milligrams, per the advice of the Mayo Clinic. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health states that people can take up to 3,000 milligrams before they start to see adverse symptoms.

Those who take megadoses of vitamin C might suffer diarrhea, nausea, heartburn, gastritis, fatigue, headaches and insomnia. The National Institutes of Health notes that people with hemochromatosis, in which the body stores too much iron, could suffer iron overload and damage body tissue if they take excessive amounts of vitamin C.

It’s important to note that if you’ve been trying to reap extra vitamin C benefits by taking supplements and are now ready to cut back, you should do so slowly. Harvard Health highlights that people who have taken too much for a prolonged period of time will metabolize vitamin C faster than normal, and cutting back too quickly could mean your body won’t absorb enough.