Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C was isolated in 1928. This vitamin serves as an excellent antioxidant and could protect brain cells, including cells in the eye. The eye is highly susceptible to damage by sunlight, oxygen, various chemicals, and pollutants. Because of an aging Western world population and a continued depletion of ozone, having adequate antioxidants in the eye is very important. But how much vitamin C is enough to protect our cells? You can find vitamin C in an excellent doctor-formulated multivitamin product. You can also find vitamin C in Acerola. For more information on vitamin supplement use.

Vitamin C 1000 mg


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Ever since Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling extolled the benefits of megadosing with vitamin C, the medical community has been debating the optimal dosage intake of this vitamin. Although many doctors stood firm for a long time asserting that the RDA of 60 mg for this vitamin was adequate, more and more doctors are now realizing that higher dosages can confer additional antioxidant benefits. However, the optimal daily intake of vitamin C has not yet been determined, nor is it likely to be determined soon. Nevertheless, we now suspect that excessive intake of vitamin C, expect perhaps in the therapy of a particular medical condition, may not be necessary.

Too much vitamin C, benefit and risk
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition points that large doses of ingested vitamin C may be excreted without being utilized. When the dosage of vitamin C given to a group of healthy men was increased from 200 mg a day to 2,500 mg a day, blood levels increased only negligibly. Blood levels of vitamin C generally reflect the levels found in the rest of the body.

Foods High in Vitamin C
You will find the highest concentration of vitamin C in fruits such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit, tangerines, mangos, papayas and strawberries. Vegetables that have a good amount of vitamin C include cabbage, broccoli, peppers, potatoes, collards, spinach and tomatoes.

Vitamin C and cancer, chemotherapy
 Vitamin C supplements may reduce the effectiveness of cancer drugs including Novartis' Gleevec (imatinib). When used on human cancer cells treated with a form of vitamin C in lab dishes, chemotherapy drugs killed 30 percent to 70 percent fewer tumor cells than usual. Dr. Mark Heaney of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York implanted human cancer cells into mice, and found that when mice got vitamin C supplements two hours before chemotherapy, the tumors grew more quickly. "The vitamin C didn't neutralize the effects of the chemotherapy drugs, but it blunted their effects. The other drugs were doxorubicin, cisplatin, methotrexate and vincristine. They work in different ways to combat tumors. Chemotherapy drugs damage mitochondria in cancer cells and vitamin C may protect these cells. By protecting the mitochondria, vitamin C prevents chemotherapy agents from working to their full potential.