Vitamin C is like a super vitamin for your body. You’ll get them abundantly in numerous veggies and fruits. It is great immunity boosting supplement that can also keep your bones, brain and health overall in shape. You get vitamin C not only through its foods but through its supplements too. People who have a vitamin C deficiency can consume the supplements to avoid a lot of health problems. But you must know the correct dosage to avoid the potential vitamin C side effects. Do you want to know what they are? Then, hang in there and scroll down. We will tell you everything you need to know about vitamin C. From its benefits to side effects and what the correct daily intake should be. We’ve got it all here!
Table of Contents
Vitamin C Deficiency
Vitamin C benefits are immense and it is a very important nutrient for your body. They do have some potential side effects too which we will discuss below. But before we get into why you should consume it moderately and how important vitamin C is for you, let us check out what happens when you are a deficit of vitamin C.
If you have vitamin C deficiency, you’re sure to have mood swings, body fatigue, bruising, dental problems, dry skin and hair, muscle spasms, and unusual weight loss. When you have a vitamin C deficiency for a very long time, your body doesn’t produce anymore collagen. That leads you to affect cells repairing and even breaking down of bodily tissues. One very serious condition vitamin C can lead to is Scurvy.
Vitamin C Benefits
Don’t you want to know the vitamin C side effects? But before we get into the correct vitamin C dosage per day, let us see what its benefits are. It’s an important vitamin for your body and can help you in many ways. But only when you consume it in the right amounts. So, let us first go through the vitamin C benefits before knowing its side effects. Here are the followings:
Reduces the Chances of Common Cold
If you are someone who is very prone to getting colds, start including vitamin C in your diet. It reduces the intensity of your flu and cold attacks. If you’re wondering how? Well, it happens because vitamin C can reduce a running nose and inflammation which are the common symptoms of the common cold. Moreover, allergies are another very common phenomenon in the West and vitamin C benefits that too! You can reduce the intensity and duration- both by having vitamin C supplements.
Helps to Reduce Hypertension
Vitamin C is very good in terms of managing with high blood pressure levels. If you have any probabilities of having hypertension then start including vitamin C rich foods into your diet. There are many incidents that have shown people dealing with hypertension have a controlled blood pressure when consumed vitamin C regularly in moderate amounts.
Reduces Stress Levels
With the fast-moving world and constant pressure around us, we are always into a lot of stress. The regular demand at work, health, and family put us through a lot of trials. So, you must know how to control it to keep yourself healthy and mentally fit. And to do that, vitamin C can be of real help. If you consume vitamin C supplements in a controlled and balanced way you can fight against a lot of stress problems. It helps in reducing the secretion of stress hormones that help you deal with your problems mentally and physically. So, next time you feel stressed out, you know what to include in your diet!
Improves Fat Metabolism
If you look at yourself in the mirror and wonder, it would be better if you lost some weight, then, start having vitamin C. All the stomach and abdominal fat that you have around your tummy are fatty tissues that get accumulated for various reasons. And of course, French fries can be one of them! So, to reduce that fat your body needs a very good metabolism rate to reduce the deposited fat. And vitamin C is a very good supplement that can help you improve your metabolism. So, if you want to keep a check on your weight start having vitamin C today!
Increases the rate of Collagen Production
Your body has the ability to naturally produce collagen. If you’re thinking what is collagen, then let us tell you that it is a kind of protein. This protein is the reason for your body to get a structure. That includes your bones, skin, ligaments, and tendons. But when you start putting up on age, your body reduces the collagen production. So, vitamin C helps you increase the chances of collagen production, further, lowering the chances of aging. If you want to reduce fine lines or wrinkles you know what to include in your diet.
Prevents iron deficiency
Your body requires a lot of nutrients to function properly. And iron counts among one of them. Your body produces red blood cells and transports the oxygen through your body. Are you thinking then how does vitamin C help? Well, vitamin C helps you to improve the absorption of iron. If your diet includes place-based iron source, then having vitamin C will help you tremendously. So, if your body is low of iron content, start having vitamin C today!
Vitamin C Side Effects
You now know how important vitamin C is for your body and the ways it keeps you healthy. But you must know how much you should consume. Consuming too much of vitamin C supplements might show some adverse effects on your body. So, let us see what the vitamin C side effects are and why you should consume it moderately:
Does not store in the Body
You will find vitamin C to extremely soluble in water. And it is a water-soluble vitamin unlike many. These vitamins don’t get stored in your body. You must also know that vitamin C is passed onto your entire body through the bodily fluids. And if your body has excess you pass it through urination.
So, your body cannot hold onto the vitamin C content. And because of that, you need to have foods that have a high level of vitamin C. So, when you start consuming vitamin C through its supplements your body gets loaded with it. That can be daunting for your system and lead to many problems.
Leads to Digestive Problems
One of the very usually high-dose vitamin C side effects is it causes digestive problems. This is generally noticed when you supply your body with too much of vitamin C supplements. However, when you give your body vitamin C with the foods that are high in it, these effects aren’t usually seen.
The daily intake of vitamin C is 100 mcg. If you start consuming more than that per day, it might lead to numerous problems. Other symptoms of excessively consuming vitamin C are nausea and diarrhea.
You may also get acid reflux problems due to the high intake of vitamin C. So, keep a close check on your daily intake. And if you notice any difference in your digestive system, stop taking any vitamin C supplements. It is best to rely on vitamin C rich foods rather than its supplements.
Causes overloading of Iron
You already know that vitamin C helps in absorbing iron. It helps the plant-based iron to work effectively which is a lower source of iron than animal-based iron. So, vitamin C boosts up the work of plant-based iron supply.
Nonetheless, some people have a tendency towards accumulating iron in their body like hemochromatosis. So, you need to keep a check on the intake of vitamin C supplements. If you consume vitamin C excessively it might cause a lot of serious health hazards. Some health problems it might cause are liver, heart, thyroid, and nervous system damage. Having said that, iron deposition is not possible when you do not boost the absorption of iron. That might occur only when you’re supplying your body with a supplement that boosts the iron absorption.
High Doses causes Kidney Stones
You already know that vitamin C if accumulated in the excess form can be removed from urination. Oxalate is another term used to define any typical removal from the body through urine. But during oxalate, your body might combine with some minerals. When the oxalate binds with a lot of minerals, crystals are formed. This leads to forming kidney stones.
When you start having too much of vitamin C, you may increase the chances of oxalate. Further, creating high chances of you having kidney stones. A study conducted on adults were given 1000 milligrams of vitamin C supplements twice for a week. After a week the oxalate amount was seen to be increased by 20%.
So, if you consume huge amounts of vitamin C supplements, you also increase urinary oxalate. Hence, increasing the chances of you having kidney stones.
It is seen that the chances of developing kidney stones increased for people who were consuming more than 2000 milligrams a day. There are reports that people also have kidney failure due to consuming more the 2000 mg of vitamin C supplements. So, these vitamin C side effects can lead to serious health problems if not addressed at the earliest.
Vitamin C Dosage
Vitamin C dosage per day is a very important factor that you need to know. Your body starts to excrete the excessive vitamin C just within hours of consuming it. Since vitamin C is water-soluble, your body is able to excrete out the water.
Some of the foods that are rich in vitamin C are bell peppers, turnip, Swish chard, kiwi, strawberries, tomatoes, papaya, guava, broccoli, leafy greens and more. So, it is not at all possible to consume too much of vitamin C from the foods you consume. You must know that people who are healthy can flush out the excess amount of vitamin C easily from their body.
For example, if you want your body to get more than the daily intake, you would have to eat 13 bell peppers or around 29 oranges. Is that possible to consume in one day? So, providing your body with the excess vitamin C intake through foods is not usually possible.
But when you have vitamin C supplements there are huge chances of consuming high doses of vitamin C. This is when the vitamin C side effects start showing up. For instance, in any such condition your body might get prone to have kidney stones or overloading the body with iron. So, you need to be cautious when dealing with having vitamin C.
You will see all the vitamin C side effects to show up like kidney stones, digestive problems and more, when you have more than 2000 mg of it.
So, if you are deficit of vitamin C and your doctor prescribes you with the supplements, make sure you choose the one that doesn’t exceed your daily bodily need. That is around 90 milligrams for men in one day and 75 milligrams for women daily. You must not exceed your daily consumption more than that or else it might lead to very serious health issues.
Final Thoughts
Consuming vitamin C is safe for almost everyone. Especially when you consume them through your daily food intake, instead of supplements. People who have vitamin C supplements have a higher chance of giving the body excess amounts. That is when the vitamin C side effects start showing up that we have already discussed above. The most common of all the symptoms are digestive problems. But if the issues get serious you might have kidney problems and excess iron in your body. So, the best thing is to keep away from vitamin C supplements unless you are deficit of the vitamin. But remember to keep your doctor consulted when consuming the vitamin C supplements.