Hey everybody.

We all know that vitamin c is important to our health and well being but do we really know how much we need to take for the best results?

To Find out we went to an expert and asked him the same question.

Here is the answer:

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"In order to answer this, we must first understand the concept of Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) as formulated by the Food and Nutrition Board.

"Most people interpret RDA for any particular nutrient (in this case vitamin C) as being that specific dosage that leads to the best health for all people. That is, ‘if I take the RDA of vitamin C every day of my life, I will more than likely achieve the best health that can possibly be gained by the intake of this nutrient.'

"This interpretation is quite false!

"The RDA is only the estimated amount that, for most people, will prevent scurvy or death caused by vitamin C deficiency.

"The board's recommendations were adopted to indicate to the general American public the amount of vitamin C needed [45 mg] in order to avoid scurvy.

"The problem with the board's recommendations is that the medical profession took hold of them and created a misconception generally accepted by many physicians. This being:

"If there are no signs or symptoms of scurvy, we must assume that there is no deficiency of vitamin C. Therefore no need to take supplements of this vitamin.

"But scurvy is not just a symptom of lack [of vitamin C], but a final collapse, leading to death, via a breakdown and disintegration of our bodies.

"There is a large area, including colds, infections, flu and degenerative diseases that exists between the total blackness of scurvy and death, and the pure white of optimum health and resistance to disease.

"No longer can we be satisfied with the misconception that if we do not have scurvy, we do not need any additional amounts of vitamin C in order to achieve optimum health and resistance to disease."

Excerpted from Brain Allergies
by William Philpott, M.D. & Dwight Kalita, Ph.D.
Vitamin C is really important for our immune system. But we need 500 mg a day to have an effect on a cold.

Vitamin C lowers a too high bad cholesterol level and prevents hardening of the arteries. 300 mg a day have been shown to decrease the risk of death due to cardio vascular disease in men with 42% and in women with 25%.

According to American Journal of Clinical Nutrition people who have high blood levels of vitamin C live six years longer than those who have lower blood level.

A professor in London has found that you the body can take up and use 20 mg vitamin C per kg a day. (9 mg per pound). The excess vitamin is released with body fluids.

Since vitamin C is water-soluble there is no real risk of overdosing. If the body should get too much it reacts with diarrhea. Recent studies show that there is no risk in overdosing on vitamin C, a dose as high as 6 g a day should be ok.

The other benefits of vitamin C are:

* Vitamin C helps to lower fever
* Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant
* wounds heal faster
* Vitamin C helps the body to absorb calcium and iron

It is also a great idea to get as much vitamin c from a natural source as possible so maybe an orange a day will help keep the doctor away.