Antioxidants, which prevent the human body from oxidizing, are popular. It is said that consuming antioxidant foods helps with various benefits and effects, such as anti-aging, improvement of cardiovascular diseases, reduction of cholesterol, promotion of alcohol breakdown, prevention and improvement of memory impairment. There is also a nutrient that performs various functions such as forming collagen, an antioxidant substance, creating body tissue, and aiding the absorption of iron in the small intestine. What nutrient comes to mind? This essential nutrient that cannot be produced in the body and must be consumed through food is vitamin C.
The Craze and Efficacy of Vitamin C
The craze for vitamin C erupted in 2000. It started when Professor Lee Wang-jae introduced a story on a morning program about how his father, father-in-law, and mother-in-law cured diabetes and arteriosclerosis with vitamin C. The point to note here is that the professor's words that he ate vitamin C while receiving treatment were misrepresented, and vitamin C was known as if it were a cure. According to the introduced content, the professor's father had severe diabetes and had his toes amputated, and the hospital said he could not live for more than three months due to diabetic arteriosclerosis, but he lived for another 11 years by taking 10,000mg of vitamin C along with diabetes treatment. When was the efficacy of vitamin C first known? The efficacy of vitamin C was known since James Lind, a British military officer, first discovered that people die due to a lack of vitamin C intake. During the British army's voyage to Africa, many soldiers died. However, the natives of the nearby island made the dying soldiers eat lemon juice, and seeing that the soldiers who ate lemon juice did not die, they realized that the reason the soldiers died was because they could not eat fruits or vegetables. Later, it was academically revealed that people die due to a lack of vitamin C. The amazing thing is that there is a provision in the international maritime law today that a box of lemons must be loaded on a ship that is sailing.
According to experiments on rats, the cholesterol levels of rats deficient in vitamin C are much higher, and their blood vessels are damaged. In other words, it has been revealed that vitamin C protects blood vessels. Another rat experiment shows that when rats are stressed, vitamin C production increases. Vitamin C makes adrenaline, and when stressed, adrenaline drops, and when adrenaline drops, blood pressure drops leading to death. For this reason, it is said that when rats are stressed, vitamin C production increases. Furthermore, according to a paper published in 2003, when vitamin C is deficient, adrenaline is not secreted from the adrenal glands in the body, and if adrenaline does not come out, you can faint from low blood pressure. Another example, Eskimos reportedly do not eat vegetables and vegetables at all. Then how can we explain the Eskimos? Eskimos eat the kidneys of animals as soon as they catch them. The adrenal gland is on the kidney and it is said that vitamin C is concentrated in this adrenal gland. In other words, the Eskimos were consistently ingesting vitamin C extract. Humans cannot make vitamin C themselves, so they need to consume vitamin C from the outside, and vitamin C drops due to physical stress, including colds. That's why vitamin C needs to be supplied. Furthermore, vitamin C is receiving high interest in relation to cancer treatment.
Effects of Vitamin C Intake
⁕ Reduces stress and fatigue.
⁕ Prevents oxidation and hardening of blood vessels.
⁕ Protects the stomach when eaten with food.
⁕ Protects the liver by reducing hangovers.
⁕ Reduces bad bacteria in the colon and prevents colon cancer.
How to Take Vitamin C
Vitamins come in tablets, powders, and chewable forms. The [Vitamin Essential! Vitamin 101: Essential Information for a Healthy Life] lists the good and bad points of each type. The daily intake of vitamin C recommended for adults aged 19 and over is 100mg. For pregnant women, it is recommended to take 110mg to provide enough vitamin C to the fetus, and lactating mothers are recommended to take 130mg due to lactation. Smokers are recommended to increase their intake to 130mg as they have higher oxidative stress and lower vitamin C nutritional status than non-smokers. Normally, the daily recommended intake of vitamin C for adults, 100mg, is the amount that can be met by consuming 1-2 common fruits or 70-150g of fresh vegetables, and in fact, in the 2010 National Health Survey, it was found that most people consume more than the recommended intake. People expect antioxidant and anti-cancer effects to be greater when they consume a variety of antioxidants, dietary fiber, etc. contained in vegetables and fruits together rather than taking one nutrient as a supplement, so they recommend eating a balanced diet including various vegetables and consuming fruits at least once a day. According to the 2020 Korean Nutrition Intake Standard, the best food to supplement vitamin C is vegetables and fruits. Guava and strawberries have the highest vitamin C content per serving. Besides, vitamin C is contained in paprika, spinach, pepper, kiwi orange juice, apple, and tangerine. The food that Koreans get the most vitamin C is orange juice, tangerine, strawberry spinach.
Group | Recommended Daily Intake |
Adults aged 19 and over | 100mg |
Pregnant women | 110mg |
Lactating mothers | 130mg |
Smokers | 130mg |
Food for supplementing Vitamin C | Vegetables and fruits, especially guava and strawberries, orange juice, tangerine, spinach |
Why Vitamin C is Excreted in Urine
As a result of a urine test on a person who took vitamin C, it was found that vitamin C came out in the urine when eating about 100mg a day. For this reason, it was thought that the amount of vitamin C over 100mg a day is unnecessary. However, according to Professor Lee Wang-jae, animals make 5,000-6,000mg of vitamin C based on 70kg, and as much as 10,000-15,000mg. If you do a urine test of these animals, a lot of vitamin C comes out in the urine. For this reason, the professor claims that you should eat about 10,000mg, which is the middle of the amount made by animals, and at least 6,000mg. Even if you eat 5,000mg at once, the amount of vitamin C in your body will return to its original state after 6 hours. Therefore, it is recommended to divide and eat 2,000mg every 6 hours. The reason why you should eat it when you eat is because you don't need to remember the time to eat vitamin C. Also, when you eat with food, vitamin C mixes. This mixed vitamin C has an effect of treating wounds caused by food digestion, which is good for the stomach.
High-dose Vitamin C Intake and Precautions
Vitamin C is excreted in urine even if you eat a lot, so there is little concern about the side effects of high-dose vitamin C therapy. The daily recommended intake of vitamin C is 100mg, but when you consume more than 200mg a day, the absorption rate decreases and the amount excreted in urine increases, especially when you consume more than 1,000mg, the absorption rate decreases to less than 50%, and a constant concentration of vitamin C is maintained in the body. Vitamin C mega therapy is a method of injecting or eating a supplement of 100-200 times more than the daily recommended intake of 100mg for adults. In fact, in hospitals, it is common to administer 10,000mg of ultra-high dose vitamin C injection mixed with glucose or saline to patients with fatigue or colds. When vitamin C is supplied by injection, the concentration of vitamin C in the blood is higher than when taken orally, but further research is needed in terms of effects.
High-dose vitamin C has some effect in cases of adrenal fatigue or infectious diseases that occur when adrenal function decreases. However, if there are uncomfortable symptoms such as fatigue in the body, it is necessary to identify the exact cause first. Regarding the effect of high-dose vitamin C, when 100 patients with progressive colon cancer were made to consume 1,000mg of vitamin C, it was reported that there was no effect on the progression of cancer or survival rate. And in other researches, it was found that there was no beneficial effect on the symptoms of cancer patients, performance ability, appetite, weight, survival rate, etc. Furthermore, research that vitamin C prevents cardiovascular disease, cancer, lung disease, cataracts, etc., should be wary of over-interpreting the results not due to high-dose vitamin C or vitamin C supplement intake. Another opinion is that if you remove too much reactive oxygen by taking too much vitamin C, our body's self-defense function may be reduced. This is the theory that cells need to be stimulated appropriately and cell defense is strengthened when there is a certain amount of reactive oxygen.
Side Effects of Vitamin C
When consuming 1,000mg or more of vitamin C per day or in high doses, it has been reported that osmotic diarrhea, gastrointestinal disorders, nausea, vomiting, abdominal bloating, abdominal pain, and kidney stone formation can occur depending on the individual. Therefore, when taking vitamin C supplements, make sure not to exceed the daily upper intake limit of 2,000mg, and especially if you have decreased kidney function or dialysis, or if your gastrointestinal function is weak, you should take care to not exceed 1,000mg. Vitamin C produces sulfate when metabolized, and this sulfate can cause kidney stones. When vitamin C is injected intravenously, the probability of sulfate occurring is higher. The probability of kidney stones occurring in normal people is low, but people with kidney stones or kidney disease should drink plenty of water and pay close attention to whether stones form or grow when taking more than 1,000mg of vitamin C. A woman who received a kidney transplant and took a high dose of vitamin C destroyed her newly transplanted kidney due to sulfate, and died, so the medical community concludes that patients with renal failure should not take high doses of vitamin C.