How Much Vitamin C Should You Have A Day

Whats The Recommended Intake

The Institute of Medicine has developed a set of reference values for specific nutrient intake levels, including for vitamin C.

One set of guidelines is known as the Recommended Dietary Allowance and considers average daily nutrient intake from both foods and supplements.

RDA recommendations for specific gender and age groups should meet the nutrient needs of 9798% of healthy individuals (

Here are the RDAs for vitamin C :

In addition to the RDA recommendations for vitamin C, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a recommended Daily Value .

The DV was developed for food and supplement labels. It helps you determine the percentage of nutrients in a single serving of food, compared with the daily requirements. On food labels, this is displayed as %DV .

Currently, the recommended DV for vitamin C for adults and children aged 4 and above is 60 mg regardless of gender. However, in January 2020, this will increase to 90 mg .

Summary

The RDA for Vitamin C ranges from 1575 mg for children, 75 mg for adult women, 90 mg for adult men, and 85120 mg for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Vitamin C is essential for overall health and wellness, and the nutrient may particularly benefit certain conditions.

The vitamin is especially helpful for immune health, as it supports your immune systems cellular function .

Is Oxidative Damage To Biological Macromolecules Relevant To Human Chronic Diseases

Oxidative damage to biomolecules, such as lipids, DNA, and proteins, has been implicated in many chronic diseases, in particular, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cataract, respectively .

LDL oxidation and cardiovascular disease

It is still uncertain which factors are responsible for the oxidation of LDL in vivo. LDL can be oxidized into a potentially atherogenic form in vitro through metal-ion-dependent oxidation of its lipid component with subsequent modification of apolipoprotein B-100 by reactive aldehyde products of lipid peroxidation, particularly malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxynonenal . Whether catalytic metal ions are available in the early lesion in vivo remains a matter of debate . Several metal-ion-independent mechanisms that are primarily enzymatic in nature have been proposed these include mechanisms involving 15-lipoxygenase and myeloperoxidase . The problems of comparing LDL oxidation in vitro with LDL oxidation in vivo were discussed in 2 recent reviews .

DNA oxidation and mutagenesis and carcinogenesis

Protein oxidation and cataract

What Does Vitamin C Do

Vitamin C has many roles when it comes to promoting health, such as:

• Acting as an antioxidant, helping protect against free radical damage and slowing the effects of aging.
• Counteracting the negative effects of sun damage, cigarette smoke, air pollution and other environmental stressors.
• Supporting the immune system to protect against illnesses.
• Helping form collagen and maintain connective tissue, including the skin, bones, joints and blood vessels.
• Supporting eye health/vision and potentially reducing the risk for cataracts.
• Helping reduce the risk of certain types of cancers and cardiovascular disease.
• Facilitating absorption of iron.

Certain people can benefit from getting even higher amounts of vitamin C than the general population, including those who:

• smoke or around secondhand smoke
• people who eat a poor diet lacking vegetables and fruits
• those with medical conditions, such as severe malabsorption, cancer and kidney disease

Researchers shows that vitamin C deficiency symptoms most often affects those with severe malnourishment, drug and alcohol abusers, or those living in poverty.

Related: Is Liposomal Vitamin C Really More Absorbable than Other Supplements?

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How Is The % Dv For Vitamin C Calculated

The Daily Value used in nutrition labelling is based on 60 mg of vitamin C for a reference diet.

For example, if a food product has 20 mg of vitamin C, the product would have a % Daily Value for vitamin C of 33%. × 100 = 33%.

Remember: 5% DV or less is a little and 15% DV or more is a lot for all nutrients.

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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Food Sources Of Vitamin C

Food

Bell pepper, red, raw

Bell pepper, green, raw

Lemon juice

In large population studies, people who eat lots of fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C appear to have a reduced risk for various types of cancer, including cancers of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, colon, and lung. But it’s not clear that these benefits come specifically from vitamin C. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study found that a daily supplement containing 500 milligrams of vitamin C, 400 international units of vitamin E, 15 mg of beta carotene, 80 mg of zinc, and 2 mg of copper can help slow the progression of macular degeneration, an age-related eye disease that causes vision loss. But we don’t know what benefits, if any, are conferred by vitamin C in particular.

Many people take vitamin C supplements in unnecessarily high doses to prevent or treat various conditions for which its effectiveness is unproved. The vitamin C supplements have variously been touted for preventing cardiovascular disease and osteoarthritis, staving off sunburn, and improving the appearance of wrinkles. None of these purported benefits have been verified in scientific studies.

The recommended vitamin C dosage per day for healthy women is 75 mg per day . For adults, the tolerable upper intake level the highest daily intake likely to pose no risks is 2,000 mg per day.

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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Are There Other Mechanisms By Which Vitamin C Could Affect Chronic Disease Incidence Mortality Or Both

As discussed above, vitamin C has many functions in the body, such as acting as a cosubstrate for several biosynthetic enzymes . Therefore, vitamin C may affect chronic disease incidence, mortality, or both by mechanisms that may not be directly related to its role as an antioxidant.

Cardiovascular disease

Hypercholesterolemia is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease . The relation between vitamin C supplementation, or plasma vitamin C concentrations, and total serum cholesterol has been investigated in several studies . In one supplementation study, consumption of 1000 mg vitamin C/d for 4 wk resulted in a reduction in total serum cholesterol , whereas in another study, supplementation with 60 or 6000 mg/d for 2 wk had no effect . Two observational studies found an inverse correlation between vitamin C status and total serum cholesterol concentrations . The mechanism for the possible modulating effect of vitamin C on serum cholesterol concentrations is not entirely certain. One putative pathway is through vitamin C’s role as a cofactor for cholesterol 7-monooxygenase, an enzyme involved in the in vivo hydroxylation of cholesterol to form bile acids . Vitamin C may also modulate the activity of hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of cholesterol .

Cancer

How Much Vitamin C Per Day For A Woman

Vitamin C is a vitamin found in various foods and sold as a dietary supplement. It is used to prevent and treat scurvy. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient involved in the repair of tissue and the enzymatic production of certain neurotransmitters. Basically, Vitamin C is a water-soluble nutrient with many vital functions in your body. It helps strengthen your immune system, aids collagen production and wound healing, and acts as an antioxidant to protect your cells from free radical damage. Here we are going to provide the information to needs on how much vitamin c per day for a woman.

Also Check: How Much Vitamin C Is Recommended

Megadoses May Lead To Kidney Stones

According to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, the highest recommended dietary allowance for vitamin C is 120 mg per day. Thats only for 19+ year old women who are breastfeeding. Smokers are also advised to use an extra 35 mg per day.

For non-smokers and those who are not pregnant, the RDA is 90 mg for men and 75 mg for women.

All of those amounts are said to be much higher than the minimum required to protect against vitamin C deficiency.

Being water soluble, you can use more safely and there is plenty of science to suggest benefits of doing so. How much vitamin C should I take per day?

The following are the Tolerable Upper Intake Levels according to the same U.S. government source.

In adult men and women, 2,000 mg per day of ascorbic acid is considered to be the maximum safe amount to use on a long-term basis. This limit is for the total combined intake coming from both food and supplement sources. Exceeding this dose will increase the risk of side effects.

What is megadosing? There is no official definition but generally its when nutrients are eaten or consumed in amounts far greater than the Tolerable Upper Intake Levels.

Lets begin with what might be happening with even lower amounts.

Of course the next logical question is, how many milligrams of the vitamin were they taking per day?

How Safe Is Vitamin C

Vitamin C is very safe. If you get it through food sources there is very little chance of overdosing.

Even if you take supplements of vitamin C, you shouldnt notice any side effects as long as you take the daily recommended dosage.

Even if you take more than the daily recommended dose, your body is usually able to flush out the extra amount so that you dont get a toxic buildup of vitamin C in your body.

Extremely high amounts of vitamin C are considered to be more than 2,000 mg daily for adults. You may notice certain side effects such as diarrhea, nausea, and kidney stones.

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Vitamin C Can Do A Lot Of Good For Your Body But Not If It Leaves You Nauseated Or You Forget To Take It Every Day Here’s The Best Time To Take Your C

irishe4kaaa/ShutterstockVitamin C is an antioxidant powerhouse that may help shorten the duration of common colds and improve healing after surgery and thats not allcheckout 13 more potential health benefits of vitamin C. But to get the most from your supplements, you have to take C at the right time of day.

Also known as L-ascorbic acid, vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin. This means it is easily absorbed into body tissue. Unlike fat-soluble vitamins, water-soluble vitamins cant be stored by your body, so you need to replenish vitamin C regularly by eating C-rich foods or by taking supplements. Excess C and other water-soluble vitamins are cleared from your blood by your kidneys and excreted in your urine.

The National Institutes of Health experts recommend that men get 90 milligrams of vitamin C a day women should aim for 75 milligrams. If you smoke, add 35 mg to those values. Smoking can deplete vitamin C these are the signs you may be deficient in vitamin C.

Another option is to split up your doses, says Zembroski: This can improve absorption, reduce the chance that it will make you nauseated, and it can help keep your blood levels high all day as you wont be excreting as much of it in urine. Scheduling your dose after the same meal each day will help you remember to take it, he says.

Use Vitamin C Serums In The Morning

Theres certainly no law against using vitamin C products in the evening, but you may get the most benefit from using them in the morning. In general vitamin C products should be applied in the morning before heading out for the day, when UV radiation is at its highest, Dr. Hogan says.

But vitamin C becomes less effective when exposed to light, so its important to give it time to absorb into your skin before going outside, SELF explained previously. You dont need to wait a specific amount of timeas long as its absorbed, youre good to go.

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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

Vitamin C: How Much Is Too Much During Pregnancy

If Vitamin C is taken in mega doses during pregnancy, it can theoretically have a negative effect on the pregnancy and the developing baby.

Vitamin C is perfect for keeping the immune system healthy. When pregnant, the RDA is 85 mg per day, and vitamin C supplementation is safe up to 2,000 mg. All vitamin C supplements should be approved by the doctor/midwife before adding it to your daily vitamin regime.

Some people use multivitamins that contain very high amounts of vitamin C, which are not considered safe during pregnancy. The best vitamin supplement during pregnancy is one that’s specifically designed for pregnant women and contains just the right amount of vitamins.

You should also take into consideration the foods that you are consuming which contain vitamin C. Some people find levels as little as 500 mg a day can cause severe gastrointestinal discomfort, cramping, and diarrhea. If this is the case, either the diet will need to be adjusted or the prenatal vitamin will need to be changed. Diarrhea during pregnancy can lead to dehydration, which can pose a huge threat to baby and health risks to mom.

If mom gets dehydrated during pregnancy, the amniotic fluid level will decrease. The amniotic fluid is the lifeline for baby. Without this fluid, the baby will not gestate to term. Dehydration can also cause nausea which can lead to vomiting and even worse dehydration.

Read More:

Also Check: What’s A Good Prenatal Vitamin To Take

Look At The Overall Formulation Of Your Product

There are different types of vitamin C that you might see pop up in different types of products. Some of these are more stable than others, meaning they wont oxidize as quickly, and some of them have different properties that can make them more suited to certain skin types.

For example, L-ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbyl phosphate are water-soluble, meaning theyre more likely to show up in products that are lighter and better suited to oilier skin. Check out BeautyBio the Daily Vitamin C Day Serum With Antioxidant Complex , Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum , or SkinCeuticals Phloretin CF .

If you have dry, mature skin, Dr. Hogan recommends looking for more moisturizing products containing lipid-soluble forms of vitamin C, like ascorbyl palmitate and tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate. For something containing these ingredients, look into Biossance Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Oil , the Ordinary Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate Solution 20% in Vitamin F , or Obagi Clinical Vitamin C Eye Brightener .