Vitamin Intake

"Overall, higher dietary intakes of vitamin C via food intake, not supplements, are linked to decreased disease risk. There is moderate scientific evidence supporting the idea that higher dietary vitamin C intakes are correlated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk, but there is insufficient evidence to conclude that taking vitamin C supplements influences cardiovascular disease risk. Vitamin C levels in the body have been shown to correlate well with fruit and vegetable intake, and higher plasma vitamin C levels are linked to reduced risk of some chronic diseases. In a study involving over twenty thousand participants, people with the highest levels of circulating vitamin C had a 42 percent decreased risk for having a stroke. There is some evidence that a higher vitamin C intake is linked to a reduced risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, colon, and lung, but not all studies confirm this is true. The reduced risk of cancer is the result of eating foods rich in vitamin C, such as fruits and vegetables, not from taking vitamin C supplements. Vitamin C does have several roles in the immune system, and many people increase vitamin C intake either from diet or supplements when they have a cold. There is no good evidence that vitamin C prevents a cold. Taking vitamin C routinely does not prevent colds in most people, but it does slightly reduce cold severity and duration. Moreover, taking megadoses, up to 4 grams per day, at the onset of a cold provides no benefits. There is some evidence that a higher intake of vitamin C reduces the risk of gout. High doses of vitamin C have been reported to cause numerous problems, but the only consistently shown side effects are gastrointestinal upset and diarrhea. To prevent these discomforts the IOM has set a UL for adults at 2,000 milligrams per day. At very high doses in combination with iron, vitamin C has sometimes been found to increase oxidative stress. There is some evidence that taking vitamin C supplements at high doses increases the likelihood of developing kidney stones, however, this effect is most often observed in people that already have multiple risk factors for kidney stones. Vitamin C’s effectiveness as a free radical scavenger motivated the Institute of Medicine to increase the RDA for smokers by 35 milligrams, as tobacco smoke is an environmental and behavioral contributor to free radicals in the body."