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Vitamin C Supplements
Which One is Right for You?
How do you determine which Vitamin C Supplements you should use, and which ones you should avoid?
Choosing the best Vitamin C supplement and understanding how to use it for optimal results can make a huge difference in your health.
We have already discussed the health benefits of Vitamin C supplements and how to use them for daily supplementation and for mega-dosing during illness or injury. (Click here to view that page).
So now that you are ready to get started on a Vitamin C program, let's identify which supplements you need.
Vitamin C supplements come in many different forms. Let's look at the pros and cons of each to help you make an informed decision...
Whole Food Vitamin C Supplements
Supplements derived from whole-plant sources are a great way to get your daily dose of Vitamin C. Many Vitamin C supplements on the market are man-made, synthesized in a lab. The body prefers to receive its Vitamin C from natural, whole-food sources. So this often the best choice for a daily supplement.
Pros: Natural source of Vitamin C, nothing synthetic.
Cons: More expensive than synthetic Vitamin C.
Recommended Product: My favorite product is Dr. Schulze's Super C Plus
Make Your Own: You can also make your own whole-food Vitamin C supplement by purchasing and combining powdered whole-food sources of Vitamin C. These can be added to smoothies, dissolved in 4-8 ounces of water, or put into capsules. Here are some great options for making your own. Be sure to buy organic if you can find it:
Dried and Powdered Lemon Peel, Orange Peel, Lime Peel or Grapefruit Peel
Acerola Cherry
Rosehips
Amla/ Indian gooseberry
Ascorbic Acid
Ascorbic acid is the most common Vitamin C supplement. Ascorbic acid is the chemical compound we all call Vitamin C. So ascorbic acid is often considered "pure" Vitamin C.
However, many forms of ascorbic acid supplements are synthetically produced from Genetically Modified Corn. So it is extremely important to find a reliable source if you choose to use this form of Vitamin C.
It is usually the cheapest and has a decent absorbability. It is also readily available.
You can get ascorbic acid in tablets, chewable tablets, and powder. Each form seems to have the same rate of absorption.
If you are trying to take megadoses, the powder form is going to be the easiest. Otherwise you will have to swallow or chew many tablets. Of course, if you are ok with that, then have at it.
Look for a Non-GMO version, and avoid ascorbic acid made in China. Also avoid fillers.
Some research indicates that the body has difficulty using synthetic forms of Vitamin C, and that residues can build up in the body and cause problems over time. For this reason, I prefer to get my daily Vitamin C supplement from whole-food forms (see above). But if I need mega-doses because of an injury or illness, I tend to add this form of Vitamin C into my regimen temporarily.
Liposomal Vitamin C
Liposomal Vitamin C is a form of ascorbic acid that is attached to tiny fat soluble substances called liposomes (fat molecules). Attaching Vitamin C to a fat molecule makes it easier for the body's cells to uptake the ascorbic acid.
Pros: Very high absorption rate, does not cause loose bowel movements or stomach distress.
Cons: More expensive, not as readily available
Attachment of these tiny liposomes makes the Vitamin C fat soluble, so it can pass through cell walls and the digestive system much more easily, leading to much higher absorption rates (up to 90%, versus 20% for regular ascorbic acid).
You can take a much lower dose to get the same amount of Vitamin C in your body. (This helps offset some of the cost difference).
High doses will not make you have loose bowel movements. [Of course we all need to poop more...But I digress.]
Make sure the size of the liposomes ranges between 100 and 400 nanometers.
Look for products with a carrier called phosphatidylcholines (PC) derived from non-GMO sources.
Intravenous Vitamin C
This is exactly what you are thinking. This is when vitamin c is administered through an IV.
Pros: Powerful treatment for infections. Speeds healing and prevents infection after surgery. Kills cancer cells without damaging healthy cells and tissues. Very safe.
Cons: Must be administered by a health professional. It can be difficult to find a professional or clinic willing to administer the treatment.
Has been used since the 1950's to treat and cure many infections and to speed healing after surgery. But it is likely you have never heard of it because it is not part of the conventional doctor's protocols.
The good news is there are clinics today that still offer this treatment. This is one therapy that should be done by someone trained in it.
One reason IV vitamin C is so effective is that you can get very high mega-doses into the body by bypassing the digestive system. So you don't have to worry about excretion (losing Vitamin C through loose bowel movements).
Intravenous vitamin C has been used to treat and cure many infections, and to prevent infection and speed healing of tissues after surgery. In fact, some patients choose to have IV vitamin C administered during and after surgery.
But that's not the only thing Intravenous Vitamin C can do......
Intravenous Vitamin C has shown selective toxicity to cancer cells. What does this mean? To best understand, let's compare it to chemotherapy. Chemo is like an atomic bomb, killing the cancer cells, but killing healthy cells and tissues at the same time. Vitamin C therapy only kills the cancer cells and leaves healthy cells alone, no matter how high the dose gets.
How does it work? At high enough doses, Vitamin C interacts with iron and other metals to create hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is lethal to cancer cells, and they die. It is a powerful treatment!
Now don’t go and drink hydrogen peroxide if you have cancer. It needs to be formed within the body through IV treatment. Besides, drinking hydrogen peroxide in high quantities is not a good idea. [https://www.cancertutor.com/vitaminc_ivc/].
Mineral Ascorbates
Mineral ascorbates attach a mineral ... such as sodium or potassium...to the Vitamin C to make it less acidic and therefore less irritating to the digestive system.
Pros: Easier on the digestive system than regular ascorbic acid. A good choice for daily supplementation.
Cons: Should not be used in mega-doses.
Mineral ascorbates are also called "buffered forms", meaning that they are less acidic than regular ascorbic acid.
A good choice for daily supplementation.
If regular ascorbic acid tends to upset your stomach, you might want to try one of the ascorbate versions.
Not recommended for megadosing Why ? Because you don't want to ingest too much of the particular mineral that they are attached too. (Especially sodium ascorbate.)
Now lets dive in and look at some of the different forms.....
1. Sodium ascorbate
The name says it all -- this is Vitamin C attached to sodium. For every 1000 mg of sodium ascorbate you take, you will be consuming 110 mg of sodium. While 110 mg isn’t too bad, if you decided to megadose with this form you could consume too much sodium in a hurry. So it should never be used for megadosing.
2. Calcium ascorbate
Also known as Ester-C, this form of vitamin C is attached to calcium. While we all could probably use a little more calcium in our diets, it is best to get it through foods like leafy greens.
While this form of calcium ascorbate has proven to be decently absorbed, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to take this form everyday or long term. There is evidence that supplemental calcium can increase your risk for coronary heart disease, so its better to be safe than sorry.[ http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/5/10/e003815].
Calcium intake for adults should not exceed 2000 mg a day. With that being said, for occasional use, it seems to be easier on the stomach for some.
3. Potassium ascorbate
While potassium is good for you and can lower blood pressure and the risk of stroke, it can be over done as well, according to some studies. (If you eat a plant based diet you are getting plenty of potassium...so potassium supplements would not be necessary.)
However if your diet is low in potassium, it wouldn’t hurt if you took this form.
If you have poor kidney function and need to monitor your potassium intake, this would not be a good choice for you.
Most potassium ascorbate supplements give you 175 mg of potassium per 1000 mg of ascorbate. So its not a huge dose. (Healthy people need between 2000 and 4000 mg of potassium a day, so if you are doing high doses with potassium ascorbate you need to monitor your potassium intake from all sources.)
4. Magnesium ascorbate
Magnesium ascorbate is a good duo. It is estimated that 80 % of us are deficient in magnesium! If you get a chance to get more magnesium into your diet, you should probably jump at the opportunity. Adults need about 400 mg a day of magnesium.
So this is a good choice for use as a daily Vitamin C supplement.
However, I would not use it for mega-dosing, because taking a high dose of magnesium can lead to loose bowels. This would make it hard to determine how much Vitamin C to take in high doses because you wouldn't know if the loose bowels were occurring because you took too much magnesium or because you had taken enough Vitamin C to reach bowel tolerance.
5. Zinc ascorbate
Zinc ascorbate is a great supplement for fighting a cold or flu. Vitamin C and zinc are both known for being great cold and flu fighters.
If you are taking mega-doses of Vitamin C to fight your cold or flu, you only want to get a small portion of your dose from zinc ascorbate. Get the rest from regular ascorbic acid or liposomal Vitamin C.
You can eventually overdo the zinc. Too much can cause upset stomach. Also, taking excessive amounts over time can cause lower copper levels and lowered immunity.
Of course, too little zinc will lower you immunity as well. You just have to find a happy medium. 50 to 150 mg of zinc a day appears to be safe.
6. Chromium ascorbate
This is another good choice for a daily Vitamin C supplement. Chromium is a mineral that plays a role in blood sugar regulation. So it is important to have the right amount of chromium intake, but you don't want to have too much.
If you are diabetic taking medications for high blood sugar, it probably wouldn’t be wise to mega dose with this form because there could be a risk of your blood sugar dropping too low. [Click here to learn more about reversing type 2 diabetes through diet and lifestyle changes.]
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-C/supplemental-forms
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