The official advice throughout the western world is that 75 mg of vitamin C per day, preferably from natural sources, ought to be enough. This is wrong, while 75 mg may be enough to avoid scurvy, the end state disease of vitamin C deficiency, it is wholly inadequate for optimal functioning of the body. The risks of too much vitamin C as stated by the NHS in the UK are
Stomach pain
Diarrhoea
Flatulence
Not life threatening conditions and as the NHS says easily reversed by less vitamin C.We will see that the symptoms listed do indeed occur when taking vitamin C. They are your bowel tolerance, an important measure of your need for vitamin C, unfortunately the state of the bowels of many of us is so bad that with the ascorbic acid form of vitamin C we may experience these symptoms at very low doses, however the use of sodium or calcium ascorbate, gentler forms, usually in a powder, will allow larger doses to be absorbed and put to use.
How much vitamin C do you need? That varies between people and even the same person in different states. This is the way to tell, using the form of C which you tolerate the best, find your bowel tolerance by taking one gram per hour until you start experiencing the first and third symptom, no need to go all the way to the second. Subtract one or two grams from that number and that is your baseline, which you should spread out over your waking day. So if you take ten hours, 1 gram an hour to bowel tolerance, then 8 grams is what you need spread across the day.
Your bowel tolerance will have to be reset if you are fighting a cold, flu, an infection or injury.
Ascorbic acid is the most widely available and cheapest source, you may have to use calcium or sodium ascorbate if your stomach is sensitive. Not all products are the same in the amounts of actual C they contain, the purity and the availability for absorption. When you find what works for you, stick to it.
For me vitamin C is a no brainer, cheap, extremely low toxicity, and in adequate amounts a potent booster of health. What is there not to like?
By micro dosing vitamin C we are missing the opportunity to provide a significant boost to the immune system with all the knock on benefits.
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