You Are Likely Not Getting Enough

With the exception of primates (excluding a few types of monkeys), guinea pigs and humans, most mammals manufacture their own Vitamin C.  Humans do not produce Vitamin C as they lack the enzyme necessary for producing ascorbic acid in the liver from glucose.

For this reason, it is vital that we get a daily dose of Vitamin C.

Up until recently, humans consumed large quantities of Vitamin C via fruits and plants—a lot more than the low Recommended Daily Requirement of 60 mg.  This low recommendation reflects the minimal amount of Vitamin C needed to prevent the onset of scurvy.

Alarming misinformation surrounding minimal intake amounts are exposed in the book ‘Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C’ by Dr. Steve Hickey and Dr. Hilary Roberts. They note that irrefutable flaws are due to what is known as the “Half-life” of Vitamin C.

Half-life is the scientific term that refers to the value of a substance as it decreases over time and the time at which the quantity becomes half its original value. Half-life is always taken into account for medications and is what determines the interval at which a medication should be taken to keep a constant amount in your system.

In other words, half-life means how long it takes until the substance is no longer effective in your body.

RDA of Vitamin C is NOT Enough!

In human beings, the half-life of Vitamin C is thirty minutes after ingestion. 

Further, the research used to determine the RDA involved only extremely small sample groups which would normally be considered invalid for research studies.

Unfortunately, too many people are of the understanding that if they are getting the RDA of Vitamin C (or any other nutrient), they are getting sufficient nutrition for the health of their body.

This is absolutely not so as the RDA is extremely misleading. 

The RDA also doesn’t take into account toxins from air pollution, stress, pharmaceutical and OTC drugs (including acetaminophen and NSAIDs such as aspirin and ibuprofen), smoking, or those with diabetes, heart conditions, cancer, or menopausal women, all of which trigger the need for substantially higher doses of Vitamin C.

Dr. Linus Pauling, a Nobel-prize winner in chemistry who spent decades researching Vitamin C, suggested that the human body requires around 2000 mg – 20,000 mg of Vitamin C daily—more in those with serious health concerns such as cancer.

Dr. Pauling himself took 25 grams (25,000 mg) of Vitamin C per day for many years without any problems, and continued working on his research until the day died, at the age of ninety-six!

Perhaps his research should get a bit more attention!  

Although it has taken quite a bit of time, it appears that things are starting change. Research is now showing that, indeed, the human body requires far higher doses of Vitamin C than what was previously thought.