What Happens If You Get Too Much Vitamin C

What Happens If You Get Too Much Vitamin C

Everything You Need to Know About Vitamin C

Medically Reviewed by Madeline Hubbard, RN, BSN.

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Whether in the form of a fizzy drink or flavored lozenges, cold and flu preventative supplements almost always highlight vitamin C as one of their key ingredients. So, what's so magical about vitamin C? Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C is critical to living healthily. Since the human body cannot spontaneously generate this nutrient, vitamin C must instead be absorbed from outside sources, such as vitamin supplements or foods that are naturally rich in it.

What Does Vitamin C Do?

Commonly found in cold and flu preventative supplements, vitamin C strengthens and speeds up immune system functionality. Though research does not indicate that vitamin C intake alone can prevent the onset of cold or flu, adequate daily intake may shorten the duration of an infection or lessen the severity of symptoms.

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Vitamin C is crucial for the maintenance of well being. For example, it plays a role in wound healing and helps maintain many essential body tissues. It also acts as a potent antioxidant and can repair damage from free radicals, which are linked to aging effects, and disease vulnerability. Additionally, vitamin C can also prevent anemia, since it helps the body increase absorption of dietary iron, another vital mineral that the body cannot spontaneously create.

Foods that contain high concentrations of vitamin C have been linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, like heart attack and stroke. Vitamin C can also increase levels of nitric oxide, a compound that widens blood vessels and, in turn, lowers blood pressure. In addition, regular intake of vitamin C, along with other vitamins, has been linked to a decreased risk for developing age-related cataracts, a leading cause of visual impairment in the United States.

Common Sources of Vitamin C

Vitamin C can be easily obtained through the many different foods, including:

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• Citrus fruits and juices (orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime and tangerine)
• Berries
• Melons
• Mangoes
• Kiwi
• Tomato
• Broccoli
• Red peppers
• Spinach
• Squash
• Potatoes

Cooking these foods may result in the loss of some of the vitamin content, so it is ideal to ingest them raw, either whole or juiced. Nowadays, there are also numerous packaged food products, like cereals, that have been enriched and fortified with vitamin C, so that the nutrient can be easily obtained.

Vitamin C may also be labeled as "L-ascorbic acid" in supplement form, and most over-the-counter multivitamins contain the recommended daily amount of the vitamin. While it is a good source when an individual is in need of a vitamin C boost, supplements are not meant to replace a diet rich in naturally derived vitamin C.

What Happens When You Have Too Much — or Too Little — Vitamin C?

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that can be easily flushed out of the body via urination when it is not needed. Therefore, if the main source of vitamin C is from naturally occurring foods, it is near-impossible for excess vitamin C to produce side effects. However, taking excessive concentrated vitamin C supplements may lead to diarrhea or stomach upset.

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Since vitamin C-rich foods are so readily available nowadays, symptoms of inadequate vitamin C intake are also rare in the United States. However, malnourished individuals can experience symptoms of vitamin C deficiency over time, including:

• Weakness
• Fatigue
• Anemia
• Easy bruising
• Joint pain
• Skin breakdown
• Weakened tooth enamel
• Gum inflammation

Severe vitamin C deficiency is referred to as scurvy. Scurvy can be easily treated with increased dietary or supplemental vitamin C. Since vitamin C is crucial in the detoxification of the body, a lack of vitamin C can compromise the immune system and make an individual more susceptible to diseases and infections. Individuals with insufficient vitamin C may find that it takes longer than usual to recover from a cold or a physical wound.

Daily Dosage Recommendations:

The daily dosage recommendation for vitamin C is different for everyone, depending on factors such as gender, age, lifestyle and current health condition. The recommended daily dosage for vitamin C is at least 75 mg daily for women and 90 mg for men. Since people who are pregnant, breast feeding, smoking or using oral contraceptives have a lower blood level of vitamin C than others, larger doses of vitamin C may be needed to achieve optimal results in these individuals. Those who have prior or current medical conditions may also require bigger or smaller dosage levels, as recommended by their healthcare providers.

Resource Links:

• "Vitamin C" via MedlinePlus
• "Vitamin C and Infections" via MDPI
• "Extra Dose of Vitamin C Based on a Daily Supplementation Shortens the Common Cold: A Meta-Analysis of 9 Randomized Controlled Trials" via Hindawi, BioMed Research International
• "Vitamin C" via National Institutes of Health
• "Scurvy" via U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health
• "Dietary intake and blood concentrations of antioxidants and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer, and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies" via The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• "Dietary vitamin and carotenoid intake and risk of age-related cataract" via The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• "Cardiovascular System" via Department of Anatomy, Seoul National University College of Medicine (via Springer)

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What Happens If You Get Too Much Vitamin C

Source: https://www.symptomfind.com/health/vitamin-c-everything-you-need-to-know?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740013%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex

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Take Iron With Vitamin C

Take Iron With Vitamin C

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Key Takeaways

• It's common practice to take vitamin C with iron supplements to help with absorption.
• New research says there's not enough evidence to definitively support a need to take vitamin C with iron in people with iron deficiency anemia.
• You should still avoid taking iron with any food, antacids, or calcium to achieve the best absorption.

According to a new study, people with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) might not need to take supplemental vitamin C along with oral iron supplements to help with absorption, despite longstanding advice to do so.

The standard practice for managing IDA has been for a person to increase dietary sources of iron and take an iron supplement, as well as supplemental vitamin C or foods rich in vitamin C, Nicole DeMasi Malcher, MS, RDN, CDCES, registered dietitian and founder of DeMasi Nutrition, tells Verywell. But now, Malcher confirms that recent data "suggests vitamin C might not be necessary to absorb non-heme [not animal based] iron supplements in the body."

What Is Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA)?

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) occurs when the body does not have enough iron. It can be diagnosed with a simple blood test. If untreated, IDA can cause a variety of symptoms, including chronic fatigue, headaches, and an irregular heartbeat.

Anyone can become iron deficient, but some people are more likely to develop the condition. For example, pregnant people are more at risk for developing IDA because iron needs increase throughout pregnancy.

Iron and Vitamin C

Traditionally, healthcare providers have suggested that people take iron along with vitamin C to help create an acidic gastrointestinal environment, which is thought to help dissolve the iron adequately for absorption.

The new study, which was published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, notes that there has not been a randomized clinical trial (RCT) to assess whether vitamin C supplements are necessary for patients with IDA taking iron tablets.

The Study

In the randomized clinical trial, 440 adult participants with newly-diagnosed IDA were randomly assigned to two groups. Participants in one group took oral iron supplements (in the form of ferrous succinate) plus vitamin C, and participants in the other took only oral iron supplements.

The participants who were in the iron-only group took 100-milligram (mg) iron tablets every 8 hours for three months. The participants in the iron-vitamin C group took the same dose of iron supplement plus an additional 200 mg of vitamin C.

During the several months of treatment, the researchers periodically evaluated blood samples taken from the subjects to check their iron levels.

Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that taking oral iron supplements alone provided hemoglobin level and iron storage recovery efficacy equivalent to that of oral iron supplemented with vitamin C.

It does not appear that the vitamin C boost offered benefits in terms of iron absorption.

The only possible benefit the researchers observed was that vitamin C might have a positive effect on changes in mean corpuscular volume (MCV)—the measure of the mean size of red blood cells. The researchers thought that the finding could be important because patients with IDA typically have lower than normal MCV values.

Iron Supplements

Iron supplements have been used as a standard practice for treating iron deficiency anemia. The logic behind supplementing with higher doses of iron is that the nutrition gap is filled and the deficiency can be resolved.

There are different forms of iron supplements—including ferrous succinate, the kind used in the recent study—that have been shown to be effective.

While the study suggests that combining iron supplements with vitamin C offers no clinical benefit in terms of iron absorption, other research has found otherwise.

In a 2019 article published in Geriatric Nursing, the author noted that in one study, taking 100 mg of vitamin C with a meal was found to increase iron absorption by 67%.

However, the dose matters when it comes to the data surrounding supplementation. In the recent study, "the participants took 100 mg of iron every 8 hours, which would be 300 mg per day total," Grace Goodwin Dwyer, MS, MA, RD, LDN, a registered dietitian based in Nashville, Tennessee, tells Verywell. "In contrast, people taking over-the-counter iron supplements are probably taking 30 to 60 mg per day if they're following the instructions on the packages on most major brands."

Dwyer says "it would be interesting to see in a follow-up study about how vitamin C applies to lower dosages, like many of our patients are taking."

Dietary Sources of Iron

While taking iron supplements is one way to treat IDA, including food sources of iron in your diet can also help you meet your needs.

There are two main types of iron that come from your diet:

• Heme iron is found in foods like beef and seafood options
• Non-heme iron is found in foods like vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Certain foods are also fortified with non-heme iron.

Heme iron appears to be better absorbed in the body than non-heme iron. Taking vitamin C with non-heme sources of iron may help maximize iron absorption with little risk.

Tips to Support Iron Absorption

If you're supplementing with iron, there are also some things you can do to help ensure that it's properly absorbed and used by your body—or at least, you can avoid doing things that would make it harder for your body to absorb and use the important mineral.

Take Iron Every Other Day

Data published in The Lancet in 2019 suggested that giving iron-depleted women daily iron supplements as divided doses reduced iron absorption. On the other hand, providing iron supplements in single doses on alternate days appeared to optimize iron absorption and might be a preferable dosing regimen.

Choose Your Dietary Sources Wisely

"If you're looking to boost iron absorption in your body through food, it's helpful to focus on animal sources," Dwyer says. This is because of the heme form of the iron that these foods contain. Red meat, chicken, and shellfish can be helpful additions to your diet.

If you follow a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, know that while there are dietary iron sources that are animal-free, you may need to consider taking a supplement to prevent anemia.

Take Iron On An Empty Stomach

Iron is best absorbed when taken on an empty stomach with a full 8-ounce glass of water or orange juice. If you get an upset stomach, you can take your iron with food or immediately after meals; however, know that taking an iron supplement with food will decrease absorption to 40%.

Avoid Taking Iron With Phytate-rich and/or Polyphenol-rich Foods

You also need to be mindful of the foods and drinks you consume when you take your iron. Absorption of oral iron is inhibited by phytates (which are found in cereals and certain vegetables) and polyphenols (which are found in some vegetables, fruits, cereals, legumes, tea, coffee, and wine).

Tea has been shown to reduce iron absorption by 90%.

Do Not Take Antacids Or Calcium Supplements With Iron

Antacids or calcium supplements can decrease iron absorption and should not be taken at the same time as iron supplements. It is best to space doses of these products out. Take antacids or calcium 12 hours apart from your iron.

Ensure You Are Not Deficient in Copper

Copper is a mineral that plays a key role in helping the body absorb iron. If your copper levels are low, your body might have a hard time absorbing iron.

Consider The Pros and Cons of Taking Vitamin C With Iron

Data appears to be mixed when it comes to the benefits of taking vitamin C with iron to support absorption. If you do choose to take a vitamin C supplement, make sure that you know how much vitamin C is in the product you've chosen.

It appears that vitamin C needs to be taken in a dose of 200 mg to reap the potential benefit.

While taking supplemental vitamin C is low-risk, it's not risk-free. For example, if you don't tolerate the dose, you might experience gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea and diarrhea. You should also know that some prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications don't mix with vitamin supplements, including vitamin C. If you're considering trying a supplement, talk to your healthcare provider.

What This Means For You

If you have iron deficiency anemia, your provider might recommend that you increase sources of heme and non-heme iron in your diet, as well as take an iron supplement. But despite the standard practice, you may not need to pair iron with vitamin C to help with absorption. Talk to your doctor before starting any kind of vitamin supplement.

Take Iron With Vitamin C

Source: https://www.verywellhealth.com/vitamin-c-iron-supplement-study-5087131

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