Gather round for storytime from your friendly guest blogger.
Today’s story is all about the miraculous, and very necessary, Vitamin C. We all know Vitamin C, we most likely have grown up hearing all about its antioxidant powers, whatever that means, and companies like Emergen-C have touted its health benefits, especially for preventing colds. Vitamin C does have somewhat of a shady past – it’s been touted as a “cure-all” for all ailments, including snakebites. Vitamin C can’t cure everything under the sun, but…
… Vitamin C is hella important, AND it is an important micro-nutrient for your immune system. For example, a 2013 scientific review did find that if you take it regularly (the key here being regularly, not a shit ton all at once), it can help reduce the severity of the cold. Vitamin C is also a very important vitamin in micronutrient absorption, so deficiency, otherwise know as Scurvy, has been shown to impact:
- wound healing
- iron absorption (leading to anemia)
- exercise recovery
- digestion
- metabolism of cholesterol and protein (including collagen formation)
- antioxidant redox reactions
- mood (regulation of dopamine and epinephrine)
- dental health (including gingivitis)
The other great part about Vitamin C is that it is a water-soluble vitamin, meaning if you want to take a whole lot of Vitamin C (and have good kidney function), go for it. Since it is an essential vitamin, you usually can take large amounts without too many repercussions.
Too much of a good thing can still be, well, too much. Large doses in your system all at once cause your body to do a good ol’ fashion detox via diarrhea, gastric upset, and nausea, and continuous high amounts of Vitamin C can even lead to kidney stones.
Too much of a good thing is…..well…..too much. There are various reasons why you would want to consider upping your Vitamin C uptake, however, especially if you are a marathon runner, or live in sub-artic environments (you never know, I guess). Also, there is a practice called a Vitamin C flush, which is generally safe for healthy adults. The idea of this flush is to saturate your body in the upper intake level of Vitamin C to address oxidative stress in the body and literally “flush” your system of excess toxins. A supplement is used for this kind of detox because you would have a hard time eating that much from food in one sitting – and you would need to repeat the process a few times, every hour. I would highly recommend you choose a day where you are home, and close to the toilet. The flush is real. For those of you interested in learning more, PERQUE is the leader in 100% l-ascorbate, fully reduced, buffered mineral ascorbate form of vitamin C that contains a proper balance of the major essential buffering minerals: 1) potassium, 2) magnesium, 3) calcium, and 4) zinc. And whether you go with PERQUE or not, they have a scientifically measured and tested process for how to do the Vitamin C flush and even help describe how the dosage may be different depending on your state of health; you can find it here, along with a nifty video too! Their website is full of important details, so I would recommend a review before your first attempt.
I will pause quickly and say that the Vitamin C flush is not for those that have Hemochromatosis, Gilbert’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or any inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). If you do have a GI-related chronic disease, it is important to connect with your healthcare professional before moving forward with the flush. This is mostly because bodies that have GI issues already have absorption issues – and remember? Vitamin C is the key to macro and micronutrient absorption rates. Too much of a good thing in GI distress can be…….too much.
For daily use, I encourage Vitamin C intake the ol’ fashion way, as in through food. Vitamin C is quite abundant in citrus fruit, but also in broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, spinach, and tomatoes. Although synthetic and food-derived vitamin C appears to be equally bioavailable in humans, ingesting vitamin C as part of whole food is considered preferable because it is vital for the absorption of numerous other macro-and micronutrients and phytochemicals. Also, supplements are not regulated, so the quality, potency, and purity of the vitamin vastly range between different brands. I’m all for making life easy, but since Vitamin C isn’t that hard to find in most fruits and vegetables, I would save the supplement taking for other nutrition needs (are you getting enough protein?). That is, you can go ahead and go the supplement route, but you would be missing the benefit of Vitamin C in various redox reactions – taking it with other macro and micronutrients enhances the health effects of vitamin C-containing foods. Pretty cool, huh?
Speaking of increasing bioavailability of various nutrients, Vitamin C is known to enhance vitamin E and iron. Vitamin E and Iron are often overlooked when it comes to women’s health, as well as the vegan diet. There is a large portion of women that experience anemia (monthly reasons I won’t go into), and it is important here to consider that Vitamin C can help with iron absorption. However, even with this medical advice, it is important to recognize that Vitamin C only helps iron absorption from plant sources.
Coming back to the vegan thing…if you are vegan or even vegetarian, taking Vitamin C is going to be important for maintaining your level of iron. This is opposed to if you are a carnivorous meat-eater, in that case, you don’t need to worry as much about additional Vitamin C intake, at least not for iron absorption. In fact, even if you don’t eat beef, eating enough seafood removes the necessity for additional Vitamin C intake when you are anemic. Now, a quick word here, if you are experiencing anemia and are not on a specific diet, your dietician will want to do a bit of additional testing to see what is really going on. It’s all interconnected in there, regarding our nutrient intakes, and Vitamin C is the foundation to nutrient absorption in our bodies – makes sense why deficiency affects so many different aspects of our bodies and immune systems.
That’s it for storytime this week, but I look forward to next time.
