Vitamin C is one of the essential vitamins that the body cannot synthesize or store, but is it good to take vitamin C every day? How much vitamin C should you supplement each day?
1. How much vitamin C should you take each day?
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that plays an important role in many body functions. Adequate vitamin C intake helps maintain a healthy immune system, heal wounds, keep bones strong, and enhance brain function.
Because the body does not store or synthesize vitamin C, we need to supplement this micronutrient daily through food or vitamin and mineral supplements. However, taking too much vitamin C can lead to side effects, such as digestive disorders and kidney stones. This is because if you take too much vitamin into the body in a larger dose than normal, it will begin to accumulate, potentially leading to overdose symptoms.
Therefore, whether taking vitamin C every day is good or not depends on each person’s needs and health status. For healthy people 19 years of age and older, the recommended daily allowance is 90 mg of vitamin C for men, 75 mg for women, 85 mg for pregnant women, and 120 mg for breastfeeding women.
Smokers and those exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased recommended allowance of 35 mg per day.
Taking too much vitamin C can lead to side effects.
2. What are the side effects of taking too much vitamin C?
– Too much vitamin C can cause digestive symptoms
The most common side effect of taking too much vitamin C is digestive disorders. These symptoms do not occur when eating foods containing vitamin C, but when taking the vitamin in supplement form. You are more likely to feel nausea, diarrhea, acid reflux… when consuming more than 2,000 mg of vitamin C in supplement form at the same time.
- Vitamin C can cause iron overload
Vitamin C has the effect of enhancing iron absorption. This micronutrient can bind to non-heme iron, which is found in plant foods. Non-heme iron is not absorbed by the body as effectively as heme iron – the type of iron found in animal products. One study in adults found that iron absorption increased by 67% when they took 100 mg of vitamin C with a meal.
However, people with conditions that increase the risk of iron accumulation in the body, such as hemochromatosis, should be cautious with vitamin C supplements. In these cases, excessive vitamin C supplementation can lead to excess iron and iron deposits, which can cause serious damage to organs such as the heart, liver, pancreas, thyroid, and central nervous system.
- High doses of vitamin C supplements can lead to kidney stones
Excess vitamin C is excreted from the body as oxalate in the urine. However, in some cases, oxalate can bind to minerals and form crystals that lead to kidney stones.
In one study in adults, taking a 1,000 mg vitamin C supplement twice daily for 6 days increased the amount of oxalate they excreted by 20%. Consuming too much vitamin C can increase the amount of oxalate in your urine, thereby increasing your risk of kidney stones, especially if you consume more than 2,000 mg per day.
High doses of vitamin C supplements may lead to kidney stones.
3. What should you pay attention to when supplementing vitamin C?
In fact, it is almost impossible to get too much vitamin C from your diet. In healthy people, excess vitamin C from food is easily excreted from the body.
The risk of vitamin C overdose often occurs in people who do not take the correct dose of supplements. Except in cases of vitamin C deficiency (rare in healthy people), you can supplement high doses of vitamin C under the direction of a doctor.
Vitamin C is a useful nutrient, but it is a water-soluble nutrient, best absorbed when you take it on an empty stomach. Ideally, you should take supplements in the morning, 30 minutes before meals or 2 hours after meals. Make sure to use the recommended dose to avoid the risk of side effects.
