Vitamin C – what you weren’t told but need to know

First of all Vitamin C is good for you. We all know this. But what about those people who propose mega dosing of Vitamin C? This is thought by many to be the cure all of many ills that plague us. The truth is that this is not necessarily good for you at all. Let's explore and look into this.

Nutritional Balancing works on the notion that everything exists in the body in balance. Intuitively we know this to be true and the question then becomes what is the right balance for the individual needs of a person. The required normal amount for one person might be very different for another, and in fact usually is.

Linus Pauling was of the belief that there was no maximum dose. This is contradictory to the mineral wheel Balancing the Mineral Wheel   and contradictory to standard deviation curves. In a standard deviation curve you see that there is a minimum and a maximum dose. Too little and you will have signs and symptoms, and too much and you will also have signs and symptoms. We need to know where on this graph we fall to allow for correct individual dosages of Vitamin C and other minerals and vitamins.

Symptoms of a mineral deficiency are often identical to the symptoms of a mineral excess or bio-unavailability. For example, too much copper or too little copper can cause symptoms of a vitamin C deficiency. Too much copper oxidizes and destroys vitamin C. Too little copper inhibits the activity of ascorbic acid oxidase, a copper-dependent enzyme needed to activate vitamin C in the body.

Now here is something you probably don't know about vitamin C itself.  Vitamin C is found in the highest concentration in the adrenal glands. It is used in the production of adrenalin and cortisol your stress hormones. No Vitamin C and you will not be able to produce the hormones you need to fight against your stresses. Put another way if you are under constant stress you will be using up your Vitamin C faster than someone who isn't.  Is this starting to make sense to all you stressed out people?  Add on to this the above information about copper destroying Vitamin C and you start to see that there are many variables as to how much one should be taking. Copper overload by the way is an extremely common issue dealt with here.  Copper Overload

Vitamin C is needed for many functions in the body, the scope of which is far to large for this blog. The simple point I wish to make is that our modern day stresses are going up and our food sources of good quality vitamin C are going down for various reasons. Our need for vitamin C is probably higher now than it has ever been but it is still not a reason to megadose and create overdose signs and symptoms.  We need to get it just right.

When it comes to getting an indication of how much Vitamin C we need some of the anwers become clear when we look at adrenal burnout and overall adrenal function.  Adrenal Burnout (remember how Vitamin C is highest in the adrenals) is easily measured by a hair tissue analysis. So are your copper levels. Balance is most defintiely the key and guessing is not satisfactory in this modern day and age. To avoid this guesswork and to become the healthiest you can be, consider getting a hair analysis done or a retest if it has been sometime since your last analysis.  Getting Started