How Much Vitamin C Per Day When Sick

Vitamin C In Animals Vs People

As mentioned in a previous blog post, most animals and plants produce their own vitamin C, and only a few cant.

The amount of vitamin C that these animals produce is equal to between 5 and 15 grams per day, if they are healthy. They produce much more when stressed or sick. Up to three times more and some animals produce even more than that.

People must rely on external food stuffs or supplements to get enough vitamin C. Enough vitamin C so that all the body functions that depend on it work in an optimal way and prevent a vitamin C deficiency.

The challenge is that our bodies don’t absorb all vitamin C we take. And we can only store very little as a reserve. Also, vitamin C has a very limited short life in the body and lasts only a few hours.

Remember, your body is in constant need of vitamin C. Especially when youre sick or stressed. Any kind of physical or emotional stress.

Heres an interesting study that proves the human body needs more vitamin C when is under stress or sick.

How Much Vitamin C Per Day Should You Take

The recommended daily allowance for vitamin C is 75mg for adult females and 90mg for adult males. However, there are certain conditions and scenarios when more vitamin C is recommended.

To boost immunity – One study found that taking 1 to 2 grams of vitamin C daily while sick shortened the duration of illness. Taking a higher dose has also been shown to potentially prevent more severe infections such as pneumonia.

To support healthy skin – The RDA is typically enough to support overall skin health and collagen production. However, some studies suggest that supplementation of up to 250mg per day is best to support wound healing.

Pregnant women – Recommended intake is 85mg per day to support moms needs and the babys development.

People who smoke – Generally, its recommended to add 35mg to the RDA per day, as people who smoke are already at higher risk for infection and cell damage.

People with iron deficiency – If youre iron deficient, you may be advised to take additional vitamin C to help with iron absorption. In fact, one study found that combining 100mg of vitamin C with an iron-rich meal increased iron absorption by 67 percent.

Vitamin C Dose Chart For Several Conditions

Dr. Robert Cathcart used vitamin C to treat many illnesses in his medical practice. He found that patients can tolerate more vitamin C when they’re sick.

In other words, the sicker the person is, the more vitamin C the body can tolerate by mouth before diarrhea occurs. Vitamin C is one of the safest substances.

The table below is the vitamin C dose chart from Dr. Catchcart. It documents the bowel tolerance doses for many conditions.

In the table above we can identify how much vitamin C the body needs under different conditions. For example:

• A person in normal health needs 4-15 grams in 4-6 divided doses
• Mild colds need 30-60 grams in 6-8 divided doses. Severe colds need much more, between 60 and 100 grams or even more.
• Hay fever or asthma needs 15-60 grams in 4-8 divided doses.
• Cancer needs between 15 and 100 grams in 4-15 divided doses.

“When proper amounts are used, ascorbic acid will destroy all virus organisms” – Frederick R. Klenner. First physician to use vitamin C therapy, with over 40 years of medical practice

It is interesting that the more severe the condition, the more vitamin C the body needs. And the more frequent the doses should be to maintain high levels of ascorbic acid in the blood.

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Effects Of Ia Of Vitamin C On Mortality

Of the critical outcomes considered the potential effect of vitamin C on mortality rates appears to be the most controversial one, with RCTs studies that underline promising results which are not supported by recent meta-analysis. A significant reduction of 28-day mortality during ICU hospitalization was observed in a small group of patients with sepsis treated with IA of vitamin C compared to the control group . More recently, findings from the CITRIS-ALI study showed a reduced mortality at day 28 in the vitamin C group compared to the placebo group . Conversely, according to the meta-analysis of Zhang and Jativa, although vitamin C IA seems to be linked to positive vasopressor effects, temporally reducing the need for mechanical ventilation, no positive effect in favor of overall mortality emerged , leading the authors to conclude that it does seem improbable that vitamin C, considered as a single agent, could be so dramatically decisive on the physiopathology of a critical illness as to influence the incidence of mortality . Similar conclusions were drawn by Wei et al. , who, by including recently published retrospective studies in their meta-analysis, suggest the lack of benefit on 28-day mortality, both in ICU and in-hospital patients with sepsis.

Why Do We Need Vitamin C At All

Ascorbic acid is a water-soluble vitamin found in a variety of fruits and vegetables. Often, we think of citrus fruit as the best vitamin C delivery system, but you can also get it from peppers, tomatoes, and cauliflower.

Once its in your system, the C helps your immune system function at its best and protect against damage from free radicals. Plus, ascorbic acid is needed to make collagen, that wondrous protein that helps heal wounds and keep our skin looking young and lovely .

Our bodies cant make vitamin C on their own, so its important that we get enough ascorbic acid from food or other outside sources.

Vitamin C deficiency is fairly rare in Western countries, but it can happen. If you take a long break from fresh produce , its possible to get scurvy which causes inflamed gums, skin spots, depression, and eventually death.

Its not common or likely if you have access to healthy food and produce, but its good to be mindful of your vitamin C intake all the same.

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Curcumin And Vitamin C

Curcumin is the main ingredient in turmeric and is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. It has a wide range of other health benefits such as cancer prevention, cardiovascular health and immune health.

Taking curcumin alongside vitamin C gives the body a boost of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. This combination has actually been studied recently for its potential to regulate the immune and inflammatory response to certain infections.

However, its possible that this combination could also offer additional protection against oxidative stress and cell damage from environmental factors for generally healthy people as well.

Overall, combining curcumin with a vitamin C supplement ensures that youre getting enough vitamin C consistently, with the added bonus of fighting long-term inflammation.

What Is The Best Way To Get Enough Vitamin C Each Day

The simplest way to get enough vitamin C is through a healthy diet with a variety of fruits and vegetables. However, its important to keep in mind that cooking can decrease the amount of vitamin C in food.

Some fruits and veggies provide 100% or more of the RDA. For example, ½ cup of red bell pepper provides 95mg of vitamin C. A ¾ cup serving of orange juice provides 93 mg. Some other vitamin C-rich foods include:

• Kiwi
• Strawberries
• Brussels sprouts

When its difficult to include a variety of fruits and veggies in your diet or you just need a vitamin C boost, a vitamin C powder like Naked C is the way to go.

The ingredients are simple – camu camu fruit for vitamin C and curcumin to boost antioxidants and fight inflammation. Each serving of Naked C provides 90mg of vitamin C, which meets 100% of your daily needs.

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Common Colds: Does Vitamin C Keep You Healthy

Taking vitamin C every day to try to prevent colds won’t protect most people from colds. It only slightly shortens the amount of time that they’re ill. Starting to take vitamin C once you already have cold symptoms won’t have any effect on your cold.

You need a certain amount of vitamin C to stay healthy and well, and most people get enough in their daily diet. Vitamin C can be found in fruits and vegetables, and citrus fruits and berries have especially high levels of vitamin C. Medical conditions that are caused by vitamin C deficiency, such as scurvy, are practically non-existent in countries like Germany.

Despite this, many people take vitamin C supplements every day in order to prevent a number of different illnesses, particularly colds. Some of these products have more than one gram of vitamin C, which is more than ten times the recommended daily amount. Because the body can’t store vitamin C, the excess vitamins are usually flushed out of the body in urine within a few hours, so they end up in the toilet. The German Institute for Risk Assessment considers 100 milligrams of vitamin C per day in your diet to be enough.

Vitamin C Can Help You Get Over A Cold Faster

So if you are healthy, feeling well, and are just trying to prevent catching the cold, vitamin C can’t do much for you. But if you’re already sick, it’s a different story.

“It can shorten the length of a cold and decreases the severity of the illness,” Sevilla says.

But if you want to cut down your cold time, you’ll likely need more than the recommended dietary amount. The Food and Nutrition Board at the National Academies recommends 75 to 90 mg of vitamin C a day for adults. To fight that cold, you’ll need more than double that amount.

In one 2013 review, from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, researchers found evidence from multiple trials that participants who took at least 200 mg of vitamin C regularly over the course of a trial got over their cold faster than participants who took a placebo. Adults who took vitamin C saw an 8% reduction in the duration of their cold compared to the placebo group. And children had an even larger reduction by 14%.

Plus, the review also found that, as Sevilla says, vitamin C can also reduce the severity of the cold once you have one.

You can easily get 200 mg of vitamin C from eating a small papaya, which has about 96 mg, and a cup of sliced red bell peppers, which racks up 117 mg. But a faster way to get an even larger dose is from powders or supplements, which can give you as much as 1,000 mg of vitamin C in a single packet that’s 1,111% to 1,333% of your recommended daily allowance.

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How Much Is Too Much

According to the dietary guidelines, the max amount of vitamin C that is safe to take each day is 1800 milligrams. Taking in more can cause stomach upset, nausea and diarrhea, which typically resolves quickly once the usage is discontinued. Some data suggests excessive intakes for long periods of time may be linked to kidney stones in people with existing kidney issues.

This may seem like an unattainable amount , but whether its a fizzy drink mix or chewable tablet, the average cold prevention supplement contains 1000 milligrams per serving. Many of these products recommend taking a dose multiple times a day, quickly exceeding the 1800 milligrams recommendation and this is before you eat any vitamin C rich foods. It is also important to point out many of these products also include other vitamins and minerals, some of which may carry their own separate risks for toxicity or interactions with medications, so check labels carefully so you know what you are taking.

Impair The Effectiveness Of Niacin

Evidence suggests that taking vitamin C supplements may impair the bodys ability to increase high density lipoprotein cholesterol in people taking the combination drug niacin-simvastatin. This drug combines the vitamin niacin with the statin simvastatin , and people take it to treat high cholesterol.

Doctors consider HDL cholesterol the good cholesterol because it reduces the amount of harmful cholesterol in the blood.

If a person takes vitamin C supplements and niacin-simvastatin, they should talk to their doctor about ways to make each more effective. Doctors do not know whether vitamin C also affects the ability of other medicines similar to Zocor.

A persons body cannot make vitamin C, so people need to eat enough foods that contain vitamin C to meet their daily needs. If someone is at risk of a vitamin C deficiency, they can take vitamin C supplements.

The advise aiming for the following RDA of vitamin C each day:

People who smoke should take 35 mg more vitamin C per day than those who do not smoke.

During pregnancy or when breastfeeding, women should get the following levels of vitamin C per day:

• 1418 years: 80 mg during pregnancy and 115 mg when breastfeeding
• 19 years and older: 85 mg during pregnancy and 120 mg when breastfeeding

There is not enough research to suggest an RDA for vitamin C in those younger than 1 year of age. As a result, the ODS provide an adequate intake, which is the amount that is likely to be sufficient:

• broccoli

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Intravenous Vitamin C Plus Thiamine With Or Without Hydrocortisone In Critically Ill Patients Without Covid

Two small studies that used historic controls reported favorable clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis or severe pneumonia who received a combination of vitamin C, thiamine, and hydrocortisone.8,9 Subsequently, several randomized trials in which patients received vitamin C and thiamine to treat sepsis and septic shock showed that this combination conferred benefits for certain clinical parameters. However, no survival benefit was reported. Two trials observed reductions in organ dysfunction 10,11 or the duration of shock12 without an effect on clinical outcomes. Three other trials, including a large trial of 501 sepsis patients, found no differences in any physiologic or outcome measures between the treatment and placebo groups.13-15

See ClinicalTrials.gov for a list of clinical trials that are evaluating the use of vitamin C in patients with COVID-19.

Can You Take Too Much Vitamin C

The tolerable upper intake for adults is 2 grams of Vitamin C consuming more than that can result in diarrhea and other unpleasant GI disturbances, says Greaves. She admits that severe side effects from too much ascorbic acid are very rare, but you may experience some discomfort if you take too much. Its pretty much impossible to have a vitamin C overdose, but lets not test that out.

The real problem with taking more vitamin C than you need is that it all goes to waste. Up to 100 mg a day of vitamin C will get almost completely absorbed, says Francesco-Maria Serino, MD, PhD. Above 100 mg a day and the fraction of vitamin C absorbed is progressively smaller. If you take more than 1 gram of vitamin C per day, less than 50% is actually absorbed and its eliminated by the kidneys.

That literally means that a 500 mg vitamin C supplement mostly gets peed down the drain.

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Oral Supplementation Of Vitamin C For The Prevention And Treatment Of Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a lower respiratory tract infection characterized by a cough, difficulty in breathing, chest pain, fever, and lung inflammation . Pneumonia is the first cause of death by infection in the United States and the fifth most common cause of death overall . Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae are recognized as the most common agents responsible for pneumonia but other pathogens are also able to induce pneumonia, including viruses and fungi .

Can Vitamin C Fight A Cold

A small amount ofresearch from the 1970s suggestedvitamin C was the answer to preventing and treating the common cold. For decades this has fueled the old wives tale that vitamin C boosts the immune system and can prevent illnesses such as cold and flu. Continuing research has indicated that this isnt quite the case. Whilesome datasuggests that extra vitamin C may help those who partake in extreme exercise or are active in cold environments, its not the magic pill people many folks make it out to be. If you are falling short of your daily needs for vitamin C you will potentially see better immune function when that deficiency is corrected. A study from 2017 determined that meeting needs for vitamin C would be enough to help prevent some infections from occurring while higher doses are needed to fight inflammation from existing infections.

The research is more compelling on how the antioxidant powder of vitamin C can fight inflammation and possibly shorten the duration of an illness when taken at the onset of symptoms. Newly publishedresearchcontinues to explore the antioxidant powder of vitamin c and both athletes and non-athletes. More importantly, this doesnt translate to more is better. Thereissuch thing as too much vitamin C.

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How Much Vitamin C Do You Need When You’re Sick

Australia has been hit by the worst flu season ever recorded.

More than 135,000 cases of the flu, with four active strains, have been recorded so far in 2017, although the true figure is likely much higher as many cases go unreported.

One of the most common remedies for illness is vitamin C. While it’s known as a powerful antioxidant and metabolism booster, there is no concrete research telling us how much we need to restore ourselves to health.

“Vitamin C has been linked to immunity, the immune system vitamin C has been linked to the common cold,” Ronda Greaves, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Biochemistry at RMIT University, told HuffPost Australia.

“Vitamin C is a vitamin, and a vitamin means it’s a nutrient … that is essential to our diet that we can’t produce ourselves.

“We need vitamin C, end of story … we can’t produce it, so we have to have it. How much we need to have is still up for debate when people are sick,” Greaves said.

“There’s been studies looking at megadoses of vitamin C with the common cold, but people sometimes look at what that dose is and not at what is really in the body.”

The problem with determining how much vitamin C people need to recover from sickness comes down to the unstable nature of the vitamin, which ultimately makes it hard to measure.

“Because of the difficulties of the stability of vitamin C itself, I think there are a lot of confounders in studies and that is really why we don’t know as much as we probably could.”