Vitamin C Daily Requirements

The North American Dietary Reference Intake recommends 90 milligrams per day and no more than 2 grams per day (2000 milligrams per day). Other related species sharing the same inability to produce vitamin C and requiring exogenous vitamin C consume 20 to 80 times this reference intake.

There is continuing debate within the scientific community over the best dose schedule (the amount and frequency of intake) of vitamin C for maintaining optimal health in humans. It is generally agreed that a balanced diet without supplementation contains enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy in an average healthy adult, while those who are pregnant, smoke tobacco, or are under stress require slightly more.

United States vitamin C recommendations

• 60 mg/day: Health Canada 2007
• 60–95 milligrams per day: United States' National Academy of Sciences.
• 500 milligrams per 12 hours: Professor Roc Ordman, from research into biological free radicals.
• 3,000 milligrams per day ''(or up to 30,000 mg during illness)'': the Vitamin C Foundation.
• 6,000–12,000 milligrams per day: Thomas E. Levy, Colorado Integrative Medical Centre.
• 6,000–18,000 milligrams per day: Linus Pauling's personal use.

Further Reading

• All Vitamin C Content
• What is Vitamin C?
• Vitamin C Physiological Function
• Vitamin C Therapeutic Uses
• Sources of Vitamin C

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