The RDA of Vitamin C

The researchers, in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, say there’s compelling evidence that the RDA of vitamin C should be raised to 200 milligrams per day for adults, up from its current levels in the United States of 75 milligrams for women and 90 for men.

Scientists say it’s appropriate to seek optimum levels that will saturate cells and tissues, pose no risk, and may have significant effects on public health at almost no expense — about a penny a day if taken as a dietary supplement.  The current RDA of 75mgs for women and 90mgs for men is just to prevent disease.  The minimum amount needed to protect and build the body is so much higher.

Below are recent studies showing the importance in preventing disease through higher intake of vitamin C.

Heart Disease:

First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) Epidemiologic Follow-up Study. This study found that the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases was 42% lower in men and 25% lower in women who consumed more than 50 mg/day of dietary vitamin C and regularly took vitamin C supplements, corresponding to a total vitamin C intake of about 300 mg/day (13). Results from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), based on the follow-up of more than 85,000 women over 16 years, also suggested that higher vitamin C intakes may be cardioprotective.

Stroke

With respect to vitamin C and cerebrovascular disease, a prospective studythat followed more than 2,000 residents of a rural Japanese community for 20 years found that the risk of stroke in those with the highest serum levels of vitamin C was 29% lower than in those with the lowest serum levels of vitamin C.

Cancer

A number of case-control studies have investigated the role of vitamin C in cancer prevention.  Most have shown that higher intakes of vitamin C are associated with decreased incidence of cancers of the mouth, throat and vocal chords, esophagus, stomach, colon-rectum, and lung. 

“It’s time to bring some common sense to this issue, look at the totality of the scientific evidence, and go beyond some clinical trials that are inherently flawed,” 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.

“Significant numbers of people in the U.S. and around the world are deficient in vitamin C, and there’s growing evidence that more of this vitamin could help prevent chronic disease,” Frei said.

“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.”

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