I’m sick this weekend, and while I usually take a 1000mg vitamin C pill a day, lately I’ve been cranking it up to two pills a day, thinking that twice the C will help.
This led me to thinking, though. Is this a good idea? Would I be better served by taking four or five a day? Are there drawbacks to too much C?
Don’t know if it’s just me, but…
As a teen, I downed several “100% daily requirement of Vitamin C” drops, thinking they were throat drops. It didn’t affect my health, but it DID make my pee a bright orange. (This, of course, is not to be confused with the bright green poop one gets after drinking a blue Slurpee.)
I do not think that even one pill a day helps, but, hey, it’s me. Some (Nobel Prize laurete L. Pauling, among others) advocated “super-doses” of ascorbic acid (vit. C). I vaguely remember reading about a study where up to 12g/day was used, without apparent short-term ill effects. I also vaguely remember that excess of ascorbic acid is rapidly cleared from the organism; you can check the latter yorself: I am sure this info is available on the Net. So, again: IMHO, “emergency” (and/or) superdoses of vit. C are useless but probably will not hurt.
per “human anatomy and physiology 4th edition”
Vitiman C is an antioxidants in the body and help to prevent excessive free radical formation, assists in collagen synthesis. 200mg is the optimal dose. Excessive doses results in diarreha, enhanced mobilization of bone minerals and blood coagilation, high uric acid levels, exacerbation of gout, and kidney stone formation. When the body is saturated excess is excreated by the kidneys.
I find this very difficult to say, so please bear with me.
I ag…
I agree with peace.
There. I said it. Wow. What a rush!
Yeah, to put it indelicately, you will piss out vitamin C pretty quickly, so the danger of overdose is slight, if any.
But taking moer than you’re used to can cause stomach problems from the additional acid.
Try taking it with food.
Or you could try taking MORE…
I’d go along with the gist of what Peace said. Did I say that?? Gaaaaaack!! This holiday spirit stuff can’t end soon enough for me.
The idea that C prevents colds or does much to lessen their severity has been pretty well debunked. For most people, temporarily going from one to several grams intake per day won’t cause problems. But if you get kidney stones the size of bowling balls, don’t come running to me ;).
That reminds me, since I’m working out at a public hospital next week notorious for concentrating all the malevolent microbes in the county, it’s time to start hitting up the Echinacea. If only I were entirely convinced that the stuff inhibits viral infections.
I believe heavily in Vit-C, along with other vitamins. I’ve had to work several jobs all at once, often just grabbing a couple of hours sleep, for up to a year at a time and kept popping Vit B, C, D, E, 12, 6, and B-1, as well as doses of fish oil, garlic, biotin, and folic acid.
I ate poorly, drank too much, smoked too much, slept to little, was exhausted most of the time, but when people around me working 1 job got sick and fell over, I was able to keep going. I rarely got sick and when I did, I did not get so sick that I had to take time off.
Even today, working only one job, I still pop the same pills, adding Lechitin for my liver, which I beat the crap out of by drinking too much, along with some zinc and Selenium and cod liver oil capsules. I very, very rarely ever get sick.
And I still don’t eat right, because I prefer to throw on a slab of meat and wolf it down with a slice of bread or two or have a can of soup, having become a lazy cook. I added Vit D because I’m inside a whole lot now, along with some potassium – because I rarely eat fresh fruits or greens, and calcium because I don’t drink much milk and cheese costs about an arm and a leg to buy.
I was last sick two years ago and then only for a day with a mild cold.
I believe in vitamin supplements.
guys, guys. There’s no need to get catty.
jb
Adventurous82:
You’ve been lucky. Very lucky. You probably have a naturally strong physiology resistant to disease and failure, but your lifestyle will catch up to you in the end. Vitamin supplements, and this should be printed on each and every bottle and box of them, cannot protect you from yourself. Nor can herbs. Or crystals. Or prayer. Your body has certain needs which must be met. It can compensate plenty. Your liver can function with 90% of it dead. Your brain can function with half of it removed. But in the end a shoddy lifestyle will catch up with you.
Here are a couple articles that talk about the bad effects of Vitamin C:
Vitamin C may speed harmful effects of cigarette smoke
Is It Possible To Overdose On Vitamins?
A quote from the above:
“Overdose of the B vitamins and vitamin C can occur if you are taking megadoses from supplements, but it’s less likely because they are water-soluble and therefore quickly excreted in the urine.”
Also, here is the “Vitamin C” portion of an article that I wrote (and have been continuously updating and new info comes out) dealing with the safety of herbs and supplements (the article is on Themestream.com, a site that pays the author per person who reads it, so I cannot give the link here; if you are interested in reading the rest of the article, you can either go there and search for my name or e-mail me).
===
Vitamin C
The ever-popular vitamin C has often been recommended in mega-doses by supplement proponents. Even if it doesn’t help much, they said, it won’t hurt. Well, it turns out that might not be true. In March, Associated Press had an article discussing research that indicates megadoses of vitamin C may speed up clogging of the arteries. Clogged arteries, of course, can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Ironically, some have promoted vitamin C megadoses as a way to protect against problems with the circulatory system.
Later in March, many news outlets reported that vitamin C had also been implicated as possibly making cancer worse! While solid results aren’t in yet, it appears that megadoses of vitamin C may protect tumors from radiation and chemotherapy. It has been found that cancer cells contain large amounts of the vitamin, which seems to protect those cells from damage.
In August, a report in the journal, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, discussed a study that showed, contrary to accepted wisdom that vitamin C neutralizes chemicals that contribute to aging and various diseases, in smokers it may actually be the other way around. The research found that in the presence of cigarette smoke and saliva, vitamin C actually “became a harmful oxidizing substance,” according to Dr. Abraham Reznick, the lead researcher.
And to further pile on, an April report issued by the Institute of Medicine said there is no evidence that large doses of vitamins C and E (and other antioxidants) prevent chronic diseases. Indeed, for the first time ever, they set upper limits on how much of these a person should take due to toxicity concerns (such as those discussed above) and noted that most people get enough nutrients from the foods they eat and don’t need to take these vitamin supplements at all.
So much for the “it can’t hurt” philosophy.
I choose to differ with your learned opinions, though much of what you say may be valid, in my opinion, it does not apply to everyone. Just like some medications have adverse reactions on a small percentage of the greater number of people using them, so supplements may also have.
I worked in a hospital for some years and picked up a lot of information concerning vitamins from the nurses and doctors who worked there. Later, I started reading up on them, both pros and cons and even investigated the herbal craze as it flashed into being. I went back to the vitamins. Especially after discovering that the Great Brain Enhancer, Intelligence Booster, Sexual Invigorator; Gingko Bilboa is basically only a blood thinner, which promotes increased oxygen to the brain via thinning the blood some to allow more blood to get to it in the first place.
The rest of it was crap.
I’ve worn myself to a frazzle several times in working mutable jobs or burning the candle at both ends, and as I aged, this became more noticeable. Hangovers, especially, became quite devastating. (They don’t seem very bad when you’re 22 as when you hit 32.) It seemed every time the weather changed, I got sick.
I started popping supplements, especially B ones on the advice of a nurse I knew and reading up on them. I started feeling better, got more energy and started getting sick less. When I settled down to one job and started knocking off the wild parties, I was working with the public and got chest colds every winter. I increased my supplements and developed a recipe, you might say, consisting of several vitamins and minerals to take daily.
I don’t get sick hardly at all anymore. I am aware that much of the vitamins, being water soluble, get excreted from my body, but I’m also aware that when the body is under stress, it uses more of the available vitamins. My quirky eating habits tend to keep me low on vitamins carried in green leafies, so I compensate for that. I value the research on fish and fish oils concerning the heart but don’t eat much seafood. So I take fish oil capsules, and cod liver oil. Now and then I take the Omega 8 capsules.
People who eat much garlic, research has proven, have lower blood pressure, less heart attacks, lower cholesterol, so I take garlic pills. Herbal research has led me to believe that certain herbs are beneficial, so I take parsley oil (Garlic and parsley come in one pill), ginseng now and then and lately, lecithin, which produces choline to keep my liver healthy.
Vitamin E seems to have helped keep me look younger because I don’t look my age and when my older brother and I stand together – he is only 5 years older – he looks much, much older, even though he exercises much more than I.
There are other minerals I take now and then, but my past jobs were high stress, often labor intensive and after I started taking my supplements, I realized that I’d still be working steadily along while worker after worker had to take time off for illness.
I figure the supplements made a great difference. Of course, I don’t suggest anyone just start piling them down without researching them, because some can be toxic, like Niacin. Some, like natural C, might not be good if you have an ulcer, whereas C from rose hips is better, less irritating.
WhoaWhoaWhoaWhoa!?! You’re saying lots of Vitamin C leads to kidney stones? Really? Do you have a cite, even a weakly supported one? I really really really do NOT want to get kidney stones, so if this is true, I’m going to stop eatting those damned chewable Vitamin C supplements. They just taste so good. You know the ones I’m talking about? The big white discs? I get plenty of C anyway, so if this is true. AAgghh!
Adventurious said:
And the difference is that medications are tested and regulated by the FDA. Our wonderful Congress has made it so the FDA cannot regulate supplements. (See the recent GD thread, FDA and Dietary Supplements.)
Also, what, exactly, are you disagreeing with? Did you read my section on Vitamin C? What there do you disagree with?
You also said:
A recent study showed that garlic pills are not quite what people have claimed: Garlic pills unimpressive against cholesterol. A quote from the article: The investigators found that across trials, garlic cut cholesterol levels by less than 6% on average. Compared with “conventional” treatments like diet changes and cholesterol-lowering drugs, the effects of garlic are “unimpressive,” the authors write.
And here’s another one from last month: Garlic supplement claims stink. A quote: The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed a legal petition this week urging the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to halt the “false and misleading” claims made by dietary supplement companies that garlic supplements lower cholesterol levels and help maintain a healthy heart.
I belong to the pro-vitamin C camp. When I feel a cold coming on, I take megadoses. The isolator of vitamin C, Albert Svent-Gorgi, took 20 grams a day, and Linus Pauling took megadoses too. They both lived to a ripe old age. I know it works for me to reduce significantly the symptoms.
As far as the clogging of the arteries is concerned, the one study that indicated that had confounding factors. Subsequent studies have not backed that up. Kidney stones being precipitated by vitamin C has been a long time charge, but I have not seen any data backing that up. As far as cancer goes, OK maybe you shouldn’t take it if you have cancer. I don’t know. Pauling thought it was a near cure, and he conducted many well-done studies (according to him) backing that up.
I can’t give you any cites to the artery-clogging concern off-hand, but possibly can get it if anyone is really interested. Of note, both the U.of Cal., Wellness Letter and Consumer’s Report on Health both advocate taking between 200-500 mg daily based on recent studies.
As far as the OP goes, no way is an extra gram or two going to hurt you. The only adverse reaction I’ve had with taking megadoses is diarrhea, and then I just back off.
… What about that absolutely fatal condition called ‘birth?’
I’m back. Here’s an excerpt from an article I wrote for a local running rag.
Vitamin C. Another antioxidant, shown to help prevent cancer and cardiac problems. May help strengthen resistance to viral infections and act as a mild antihistamine to help relieve cold symptoms. Healthy people in their 60s and older who had the highest blood levels of vitamin C and beta carotene scored higher on memory tasks.
Patients with documented exercise induced asthma were involved in a study in Israel. They were given either two grams of vitamin C or a placebo one hour before a 7-minute treadmill session. About half had improvement in asthmatic symptoms with the vitamin and one gram per day during the next two weeks continued to provide a protective effect.
Accumulating research has shown the protection of the antioxidants against heart disease, cancer, and other chronic disorders. However, under certain circumstances, they can cause some of the cellular damage they can protect against. A small English study of thirty people who took 500 mg of vitamin C daily for six weeks showed signs of genetic damage, presumably the result of free radicals created by vitamin C. However, leading scientists have pointed out serious flaws in the study. Dr. Bruce Ames, an expert in antioxidant research, noted that the researchers themselves may have created the damage when they ground up the cells to examine the DNA. (25)
According to a small study in the December 11, 1999, Lancet, 39 volunteers with moderately high blood pressure, the vitamin C group’s systolic pressure dropped by about 13 points and diastolic pressure 8 points.
Health Gazette, December 1999, states that vitamins C and E depress sperm motility, impairing fertility. The following is a summary from Consumer Reports on Health, November, 1998. A NIH study showed that high doses of vitamin C are "generally useless, since the body absorbs only a limited amount." The study consisted of 7 young men living in a hospital for 4 to 6 months, where they were fed a controlled diet that supplied all necessary nutrients except vitamin C. After their bodies were depleted of vitamin C, they progressively took larger daily doses, up to 2500 mg. Blood levels rose from 30% to 91% at 400 mg and total saturation at 1,000 mg. In addition, observation research suggests that vitamin C may provide protection against cancer, especially stomach cancer, due to its ability to fight oxidation, where the ulcer bacterium produces free radicals. Also, vitamin C helps neutralize nitrates, a carcinogen. Oxidation can damage both the retina and the lens of the eye. Both contain vitamin C and other antioxidants; hence, the formula known as Ocuvites and other formulations containing antioxidants.
The article points out that excess amounts can cause flatulence and diarrhea. In my experience, when my cold symptoms have been severe, I take sufficient amounts until I get diarrhea and then I back off. A small price to pay. The article further states that high doses "theoretically could increase the risk of kidney stones in susceptible individuals." It does not state of even one incident of that occurring. In my readings, it appears oxalate can precipitate kidney stones, but not vitamin C. The article concludes that although 60 mg. will prevent scurvy (it is, after all, called ascorbic acid), eating the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables will supply from 200 to 350 mg, which should almost completely saturate the blood "--and may help ward off coronary disease, cancer, cataracts, and possibly arthritis, asthma, cognitive impairments and macular degeneration."
Recently investigators at the U. of Southern California, LA, monitored people who regularly swallowed vitamin C pills. After one year, the C takers had more thickening of their artery walls than those who didn’t take the supplement. 573 healthy middle-aged people were involved for an 18-month period. The summary of the study provides incomplete data and leaves many crucial questions unanswered. Further, this was a single study, and not a clinical trial. Tufts U. Health & Nutrition Letter, April 2000, did not provide any details of the study, but warned against supplements. U.ofCal, Berkeley, Wellness Letter, May 2000, did, and that newsletter continues to recommend a diet rich in vitamin C, as well as a daily supplement of 250 to 500 mg. daily. And if you take C, take E supplements, too, since they work together. The RDA was raised, but just from 60 mg to 75 mg for women and 90 mg for men. The upper limit is 2,000 mg. Higher amounts can cause diarrhea.
Researchers at the U.of California made the following finding after looking at data on more than 13,000 men and women: gallbladder disease was significantly more common among women who had relatively low levels of vitamin C in their blood. (Tufts U., Health & Nutrition Letter, May 2000)
Vitamin C is also essential to some important enzyme functions that the body needs to make collagen and norepinephrine, a key neurotransmitter. In a trial of 442 subjects aged 65-94, high blood concentrations of vitamin C and beta-carotene were associated with better memory performance. (Harvard Health Letter, August 2000)barbitu8 said:
You know this? How? Are you sure you had a cold each time? No. As my Staff Report on the “nocebo” effect notes, you may “feel a cold coming on” when you really don’t have a cold. I know it happens to me. So if you take it as soon as you think you feel symptoms, you may not actually have a cold! This is why scientists do specific studies on these things – to avoid meaningless anecdotes like yours.