RESPECTED RESEARCHER AT THE LINUS PAULING NUTRITION RESEARCH INSTITUTE CALLS FOR DOUBLING OF VITAMIN C RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCE
I am of the opinion that many of the recommended daily allowances that are recommended for many vitamins and minerals are WOEFULLY too low.
The days of some physicians saying you don’t need to take higher levels of some vitamins because you will just urinate them out, are thankfully disappearing as more and more physicians actually make an effort to learn something about nutrition, instead of “parroting” age old positions that were based upon ignorance.
The outdated recommendation of 400 IU of vitamin D has increased by as much as 5-10 times. Who knows how many people could have been spared from chronic disease had they been taking the higher levels of vitamin D that many naturopaths and experts in clinical nutrition have been recommending for decades.
Should you double up on Vitamin C?
There is substantial published data suggesting that taking much higher levels of vitamin C, than the 75-100 mg currently recommended for women and men, can strengthen your immune system, reduce systemic inflammation in our bodies, reduce blood pressure and increase collagen production, just to name a few of this vitamins health protective benefits.
Conservatively, Dr. Balz Frei director of the Linus Pauling Research Institute has recommended that the RDA be doubled to 200 mg/day. He stated “Levels should be raised from the current levels of 75 mgs per day for women and 90 mg per day for men to an optimum level that ensures cell and tissue saturation, that poses no risk, and that may have significant effects on public health at almost no expense – about a penny a day if taken as a dietary supplement.”
I applaud his bringing attention to this issue, but personally I think 1000-2000 mg/day is a great deal more therapeutic.
Here are just a few vitamin C studies that support this position:
- An analysis (systemic review or meta-analysis) of 29 humans (not mouse or other preclinical models) found that taking 500 mg of vitamin C daily significantly reduced blood pressure. Human studies concluded that daily supplements of 500 milligrams of vitamin C significantly reduced blood pressure, which is a primary cause of both heart disease and stroke.
- When the blood plasma concentrations of 20,000 European patients were studied, researchers found that those patients in the top 20% with the highest vitamin C levels had a 60% lower risk of dying from heart disease when compared to people in the lowest 20%.
- Another study found that men with the lowest serum levels of vitamin C had a 62% higher risk of dying from cancer over the next twelve to sixteen years of their lives, when compared to men with the highest levels of vitamin C.
- Another research effort found that men with the lowest serum vitamin C levels had a 62% higher risk of cancer related death after a 12-16 year period, compared to those with the highest vitamin C levels.
Curt Hendrix M.S. C.C.N. C.N.S.
