Vitamin C is necessary for the treatment and prevention of scurvy. Scurvy is commonly comorbid with other diseases of malnutrition; sufficient vitamin C to prevent scurvy occurs in most diets in industrialized nations.
Vitamin C functions as an antioxidant. Adequate intake is necessary for health, but supplementation is probably not necessary in most cases.
Based on animal and epidemiological models, high doses of vitamin C may have "protective effects" on lead-induced nerve and muscle abnormalities, especially in smokers.
Dehydroascorbic acid, the main form of oxidized vitamin C in the body, may reduce neurological deficits and mortality following stroke due to its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, while "the antioxidant ascorbic acid (AA) or vitamin C does not penetrate the blood-brain barrier".
Vitamin C's effect on the common cold has been extensively researched.
Vitamin C megadosage
Several individuals and organizations advocate large doses of vitamin C based on in vitro and retrospective studies, although large, randomized clinical trials on the effects of high doses on the general population have never taken place. Individuals who have recommended intake well in excess of the current Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) include Robert Cathcart, Ewan Cameron, Steve Hickey, Irwin Stone, Matthias Rath and Linus Pauling. Arguments for megadosage are based on the diets of closely related apes and the likely diet of pre-historical humans, and that most mammals synthesize vitamin C rather than relying on dietary intake.
Stone and Pauling calculated, based on the diet of primates (similar to what our common ancestors are likely to have consumed when the gene mutated), that the optimum daily requirement of vitamin C is around 2,300 milligrams for a human requiring 2,500 kcal a day. Pauling also criticized the established RDA as sufficient to prevent scurvy, but not necessarily the dosage for optimal health.
Vitamin C has also been promoted as efficacious against a vast array of diseases and syndromes. Research has been done on the effects of Vitamin C on a variety of disorders and diseases including the following:the common cold, heart disease, AIDS, autism, low sperm count, age-related macular degeneration, altitude sickness, pre-eclampsia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, heroin addiction, asthma, tetanus, and cancer. These uses are poorly supported by the evidence, and sometimes contraindicated.
Further Reading
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article on
"Vitamin C"
All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.