How much is enough?


To maintain our health, protect our body from diseases, and keep youthfulness and beauty, how much vitamin C should we take? The amount of vitamin C depends a lot on the person concerned and his or her needs. It cannot be made by the human body, although most of the mammals can synthesize it. Animals can produce 1-6g of vitamin C a day in terms of a human being weighing 60kg. Animals produce it in grams. This is not useless. Even this amount is necessary for them so they produce it inside their bodies. Humans and animals have different metabolism and metabolic turnover rates. Having considered that, 100-400mg of vitamin C is needed to be produced per day (assuming that the human ancestors have the capacity to make vitamin C). That amount is the essential requirement for human.

Just like humans, monkey and guinea pigs cannot produce their own vitamin C and they are being used as experimental animals. Each of them is given the recommended amount of vitamin C. Based on necessary amount of vitamin C for a 60kg human being, rhesus macaque, squirrel monkey, and guinea pig are given 1.5g, 9g, and 3-12g, respectively. Although humans and animals have different metabolism and speed of metabolic rate, humans are advised to take even much higher than the recommended daily intake, which is 100 mg. If you take 2,000mg a day, the body will store approximately 4,500mg. To maintain this store level, take around 400mg a day. In other words, take 400mg a day every day to keep that maximum vitamin C level in your system. Based on the physiological level of 100 – 400mg per day, the necessary amount of vitamin C will depend on several factors. You can decide the amount for yourself by taking the following into account: lifestyle patterns, environment, physical activity, age, and body and health conditions. The amount would be 500-2,000mg a day.

Vitamin C has various pharmacological benefits. For example, people with high blood pressure and cholesterol, semi-invalid people who has invisible illnesses, and people with visible illnesses who want to expect pharmacological benefits from vitamin C, should take 2,000mg or more of it a day. Vitamin C’s pharmacological benefits are not fast-acting compared with other drugs. The effect will gradually appear after continuously taking it for a long time. For those who are taking medicine, the combination of the drug and vitamin C is desirable. It can compensate for the nutrient loss caused by the drug, aid the main effect of the drug, and reduce the side effects.

People who should get more vitamin C


There are factors that require more amount of vitamin C. When the function of vitamin C is taken into account, some people are advised to take a fair amount of it.

Pregnant and lactating women

Taking into account the increase in weight during pregnancy, increase in energy of pregnant and lactating women, and decrease in amount of lactating women, the recommended amounts of vitamin C for women who are pregnant and breastfeeding are 110mg and 150mg, respectively. However, the increase in the physiologic required amount of vitamin C during pregnancy and the required amount for fetal development have not been considered. No enough research to determine why women crave for Chinese citron (summer orange) when experiencing morning sickness, but it could be a warning sign of vitamin C deficiency. Through breastfeeding, vitamin C transfers to the infant to make it healthy. On the other hand, the nursing mother loses vitamin C through this. To this end, women who are pregnant and breastfeeding require more vitamin C.

Smokers

Smoking deprives your body of vitamin C. There is no correlation between the numbers of cigarettes smoked per day and vitamin C depletion. Both light and heavy smokers lose the same amount of vitamin C supply in their bodies. Vitamin C breaking down toxic substances they have inhaled in their systems is how smokers drain this nutrient from their body. It also hinders the vitamin C absorption in the small intestine.
Smokers harm themselves and also those non-smokers around them. Tobacco smoke contains toxic and cancer causing substances. It does not solely harm the smoking people but also the non-smoking people who are exposed to that smoke. In other words, both smokers and non-smokers exposed to the tobacco smoke should take vitamin C.

People drinking alcohol

Drinking of about 1 Go (180ml) of saké will not burn up the vitamin C in your system. It will only lessen the nutrient in your body when more than 3 Go are consumed every night. Alcohol slows down the absorption and speeds up the metabolism of vitamin C. Vitamin C aids the clearance of alcohol in the blood (flushing from the bloodstream). It also helps liver to metabolize alcohol, protects from alcohol’s toxic effect, and prevents alcoholic liver diseases. Heavy drinkers need to get vitamin C in great quantity.

People get hangovers and drunken sicknesses

Alcohol is absorbed through the small intestine and then is passed through the liver, where it gets metabolized into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a compound that causes nausea and the underlying cause of drunken sickness and hangover. Vitamin C deficiency is a cause of drunken sickness and hangover. Increase the intake of vitamin C in the body to aid the metabolism of alcohol and lower the concentration of acetaldehyde. In this way, you can avoid getting drunken sickness and hangover.