Vitamin C has gained a strong reputation regarding health. But has the true nature of this vitamin been revealed and has its implication on our health really understood?
Linus Pauling has received much accreditation for his research regarding vitamin C and its effects on health. More importantly, he helped give credence to the importance on the value of nonprescription protocols which could be useful for illnesses. This gave more empowerment to “alternative” substances, such as supplements, vitamins, and minerals, and their application in the healthcare field.
As we began to embrace supplements, the misinformation expanded as well. Let’s look at a very common vitamin almost everyone has heard of: Vitamin C.
Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, including grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and limes. But did you also know it’s found in bell peppers, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli and the like), white potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, cantaloupe and Papaya? That’s a lot of produce to choose from!
The recommended daily requirement by the RDA for Vitamin C is 90 mg for men and 70 mg for women.
I don’t always agree with the RDA requirements – sometimes they’re just too low, despite solid scientific evidence proving otherwise. But this one I can get on board with, and here’s why:
Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, is water a soluble compound. The term vitamin C refers to ascorbic acid and to dehydroascorbic acid.
It can be synthesized by most mammals except: primates, humans, guinea pigs and fruit bats. It is synthesized from glucose in a six-step pathway and the mammals (us humans) which cannot make the vitamin lack one enzyme required for this synthesis to occur.
This pathway, interestingly, produces toxic oxygen and explains in part why the various mammals, which lack the activity of the vital enzyme(s) directed at negating the toxic oxygen, cannot complete the vitamin C synthesizes pathway.
In other words, we (humans) are not intended nor designed to produce our own vitamin C.
The instability of ascorbic acid in solution is illustrated by its rapid deterioration via its conversion to dehydroascorbate. Ascorbic acid is important in various reactions in the body, such as maintaining the integrity and formation of the proteins in connective tissue (think Cartilage) and to bring certain hormones to maturation.
Vitamin C may play a role in reducing damage induced by some free radicals.
Have these benefits been over exaggerated by misrepresentation and premature conclusions?
As I mentioned above, the adult RDA requirement for Vitamin C is 75-90 mg daily, and with a relatively healthy diet, this can be achieved through food alone.
This may seem low to many people, but it actually meets all the body’s demands.
Remember, this vitamin is not synthesized by humans for our own safety. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that ascorbic acid can be considered a micro requirement.
In other words, very small amounts are needed in the diet to create the reactions required by the human body to maintain collagen integrity and hormone synthesis.
The popular advice regarding mega doses of this vitamin seems to have infiltrated into almost all “Top 10 Ways to Cure a Cold” lists. The adage of a little is good so a lot must be better has been exemplified more with vitamin C than almost any other supplement or compound available to the general public.
This practice of mega dosing with this vitamin has the potential of inducing far more negative results than what was previously thought.
Ascorbic acid is biochemically defined as an acid sugar and when you take too much in a supplement form, is metabolized as an acid sugar.
It’s also critical to remind you that you can’t eat too much vitamin C through your food, but you can from taking super doses of vitamin C in a pill or powder form.
When the body’s requirements of vitamin C are met, the body changes the way it processes the excess vitamin C.
It does two things:
Enhance the process of converting to fats from sugars.
Greatly acidifies the human body.
These are two things which are not considered good things for our health.
Additionally, and more dangerous perhaps, is that vitamin C in supplement form, has a high affinity of changing the calcium ions into an unmetabolized form, resulting in the potential of kidney stones, particularly in men.
The big sell for big doses of vitamin C has been the unsubstantiated idea that the frequency of colds is lessened.
Truth Or Tale?
Trials conducted on the benefits of treating colds with ascorbic acid has resulted in mixed reviews with the majority showing no difference to a 12-hour shorter duration out of five days.
What was consistent with these mega dose studies was irritation on the bowel, resulting in diarrhea.
Furthermore, the conditions of diverticulitis and irritable bowel syndrome appear to substantially increase for people who continue a prolonged mega dose therapy with ascorbic acid. This is a potential warning flag for those who have experience a past history with these health conditions.
Should Vitamin C be taken as supplement?
If we consume a well-balanced diet with plenty of vegetables and fruit, then supplementation is not necessary.
But there is one extremely beneficial place for vitamin C: Turns out, applying Vitamin C to the skin offers great health benefits.
When it is used together with specific amino groups on the skin, it completes a valuable reaction which assists in the development of new collagen. That’s great news for anyone interested in taking care of their skin.
Don’t be taken in by the fads and trends circulating on the internet. Sometimes more of a good thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
