Vitamin C – Over Rated and Totally Unnecessary?

Contemplating my Navel (Orange)

Yes, it’s crazy and I can’t understand it at all. There are still people who don’t want to admit that we need to get our vitamins to insure good health. “The FDA isn’t looking out for us. It’s all a government conspiracy.” OK, the FDA may not have our best interest in mind, and the standards for their RDA (recommended daily allowance) of any given vitamin or mineral is left over from World War Two, but in general I think the effort is valid even if the methodology isn’t exactly perfect. (If we wait for perfect in anything, nothing would get done)

So, vitamin C. I think there have been more studies done on C than any other vitamin on the planet and beyond a doubt, we need it in our diet. The RDA for C is 90 mg for men and 70 mg for women (Linus Pauling Institute)  Vitamin C is essential to the body to synthesize collagen, which is an important component of bone, ligaments, tendons and blood vessels. It is also required in the synthesis of norepinephrine which is important for brain function and for making carnetine which contributes to the process of converting fat to energy. Hmm, converting fat to energy, that sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it?

So where do you get your Vitamin C from? Ideally it comes from whole food sources on a daily basis. Citrus is the most commonly known source, but bell peppers also contain high levels of C. A word on citrus, the majority of the vitamin C is in the pulp. So you should either drink juice with pulp, or better yet, eat the fruit itself. The meat of the fruit contains ten times the vitamin C found just in the juice, so keep that in mind. A typical orange contains about 70 mg, and a grapefruit has around 44 mg. These fruits are both low calorie and high fiber. (like most fruits) also a plus – filling and good for you.

Lots of studies have linked vitamin C with cold prevention, so the old wife’s tale does have some validity to it, but take care – there is an upper limit to how much vitamin c your body can process, and for adults that limit is 2000 mg. Now that’s an awful lot of oranges, so people sometimes take supplemental C when they are starting to feel something ‘coming on’ but limit it. The best source is still whole foods, but if you are going to take a supplement make sure it is bio-available and doesn’t just pass through you, and keep it under 2000 mg per day.

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Tagged as: linus pauling institute, natural vitamin c, vitamin c, vitamin c foods, vitamins