A report published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition suggests raising the RDA of vitamin C from the current levels of 75 mg for women and 90 mg for men to an overall 200 mg per day for adults.
Beyond preventing the vitamin C deficiency disease of scurvy, researchers say it’s appropriate to seek optimum vitamin C levels that will saturate cells and tissues, pose no risk, and may have significant effects on public health. All of these benefits come at almost no expense (approximately a penny a day), if taken as a dietary supplement, researchers add.
“Significant numbers of people in the US and around the world are deficient in vitamin C, and there’s growing evidence that more of this vitamin could help prevent chronic disease,” said Balz Frei, professor and director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University and one of the world’s leading experts on the role of vitamin C in optimum health.
Many metabolic, pharmacokinetic, laboratory, and demographic studies suggest that higher levels of vitamin C could assist in reducing chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Studies also suggest high blood pressure, chronic inflammation, poor immune response, and atherosclerosis can be moderated by vitamin C.
- A recent analysis of 29 human studies concluded that daily supplements of 500 mg of vitamin C significantly reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure
- A European study of almost 20,000 men and women compared the blood plasma concentration of vitamin C in the highest 20% of people to the lowest 20% and discovered that mortality from cardiovascular disease was 60% lower in the former group
- Another research effort found that when compared with men with the highest vitamin C levels, those with the lowest serum vitamin C levels had a 62% higher risk of cancer-related death after a 12- to16-year period
“We believe solid research shows the RDA should be increased,” Frei said. “And the benefit-to-risk ratio is very high. A 200 milligram intake of vitamin C on a daily basis poses absolutely no risk, but there is strong evidence it would provide multiple, substantial health benefits.”
Source: OSU.