Vitamin C

Introduction

Vitamin C is vital and involved in many processes1.

Not Enough

An extreme vitamin c deficiency has the name scurvy with symptoms as bleeding, inflammation, muscle atrophy, increased risk of infections and death.

A lighter deficiency may be unrecognized over longer times periods. It is not comparable to scurvy, but scurvy shows what processes in the body require vitamin c to function properly.

Too Much

Even at high dosages of vitamin c there are almost no negative immediate consequences recognizable2. At high oral intake digestion problems might occur, but this needs depending on the person more than 10g/day (10'000mg)1, which is about 100 times a recommended daily allowance of 100mg. This means that a short term high consumption of vitamin c seems to be unrisky.

Recommended Daily Intake (Total)

The recommended dietary allowance is at 90mg/day for males and 75mg/day for females 3.

But the human body seems to have usage for up to 400mg/day and and excretes the excess with urine4. This is an indication, that the optimal daily dosage might be higher at up to 400mg/day.

The detailed recommendations by age and gender of the US Institute of Medicine can be found here.

Natural Sources

An adequate daily intake is possible by eating fruits and vegetables. Examples with a high vitamin-C content are:

Vitamin C per 100g
Broccoli, raw589.0mg
Broccoli, cooked664.9mg
Oranges, raw753.2mg
Spinach, fresh, cooked89.8mg
Spinach, frozen, cooked92.2mg
Potatoes, cooked107.4mg
Apples, raw, with skin114.6mg
Broccoli contains much vitamin C. But many fruits and vegetables do not contain much at all as visible in the table above for example with apples.

Conclusion

Generally, an optimal vitamin C supply should be strived for in order to enable the body to function properly and to avoid deficiency issues. The risk of excess consumption seems to be limited for vitamin C.

If a person does not eat almost every day larger amounts of fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C, then a supplementation is useful to achieve an adequate daily intake.

A vitamin C supplement should contain between 75 - 400mg of vitamin C per day.


References

1
Institute of Medicine (US) Panel on Dietary Antioxidants and Related Compounds. (2000). Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225483/ at 2018-02-10.

2
Riordan HD, Casciari JJ, González MJ, Riordan NH, Miranda-Massari JR, Taylor P, Jackson JA. (2005). A pilot clinical study of continuous intravenous ascorbate in terminal cancer patients. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16570523?dopt=AbstractPlus at 2018-02-10.

3
Institute of Medicine (US). (2006). Dietary Reference Intakes: The Essential Guide to Nutrient Requirements. (Consensus Study Report). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.17226/11537 at 2019-05-12.

4
Mark Levine, Yaohui Wang, Sebastian J. Padayatty, and Jason Morrow. (2001). A new recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C for healthy young women. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC55540/ at 2018-02-10.

5
United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] Agricultural Research Service. (2016). National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28: Basic Report: 11090, Broccoli, raw. Retrieved from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/2871?manu=&fgcd=&ds= at 2018-02-08.

6
United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. (2016). National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28 . Basic Report: 11742, Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt. Retrieved from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3360?manu=&fgcd=&ds= at 2018-02-08.

7
United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. (2016). National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28: Basic Report: 09200, Oranges, raw, all commercial varieties . Retrieved from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/2284?manu=&fgcd=&ds= at 2018-02-08.

8
United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. (2016). Basic Report: 11458, Spinach, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt. Retrieved from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3168?manu=&fgcd=&ds= at 2018-02-08.

9
United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. (2016). Basic Report: 11464, Spinach, frozen, chopped or leaf, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt. Retrieved from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3172?manu=&fgcd=&ds= at 2018-02-08.

10
United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. (2016). National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28. Basic Report: 11367, Potatoes, boiled, cooked without skin, flesh, without salt. Retrieved from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3095?manu=&fgcd=&ds= at 2018-02-08.

11
United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. (2016). National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28 Basic Report: 09003, Apples, raw, with skin. Retrieved from https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/2122?manu=&fgcd=&ds= at 2018-02-08.