Yes, it’s true. I’m officially addicted to vitamin C. I’m not sure how it happened really. I started taking vitamins recently to go along with my diet. Since the store had these fun sugar-free grape ones I thought, hey, what the hell. Turns out, they are like the best tasting things ever.
They recommend two per day, but I’m sure I had at least twenty over the course of the day today. It’s basically impossible to OD on vitamin C, so I’m not worried at all. Unfortunately though, the sweetening ingredient in these little bad boys is sorbitol, which is a type of sugar alcohol. Sugar alcohols taste good and don’t metabolize like sugar, but unfortunately lead to some pretty major gastro-intestinal distress.
If you see me dash out of PhotoCamp on Friday in a hurry, it’s nothing personal. It just means I stocked up on vitamins in the morning.
How much vitamin C is there in those? There is actually “tolerable upper intake level (UL)” for vitamin C (2 grams per day for adults)… although the body doesn’t store vitamin C (or other water-soluble vitamins), you can get too much of it… where “too much” is defined as, quoting from the Dietary Reference Intakes report for vitamin C: “the adverse effects upon which the UL is based are osmotic diarrhea and gastrointestinal disturbances.” Mmm.. osmotic diarrhea!
Hmm.. I think I’m going to lay off of them for a while. Thanks for the info.
I’ve seen various statements that if you take large doses for a sustained period, and then suddenly stop; you can get a sort of ‘rebound scurvy’. I’ve also seen info on the web that flat out states that won’t happen.
It seems to me it’s hard to get quality info on vitamin c.
I can identify with the ‘addiction’ though. I often get carried away with those sweet chewable tabs. They seem to relax me – but I am a bit concerned about my chaotic pattern of vitamin-c megadoses.
I decided to increase my vitamin C intake and opted for the unsweetened ones to avoid the artificial sweeteners. I started with the 1000mg/day and found it extremely sour but over time found myself gulping down more than 20 tablets (20,000mg or more) tablets a day. I have so much craving for the sour taste and have used it to fight down nausea which I have bouts of in a day.
I am afraid of the quantities consumed as it seems to be an addiction. Presently, I feel very high-sensitivity in my teeth and even though my teeth were never “white”, they are more yellow now. I am really concerned to know if there will be grave consequences or health implications or side effects.
Thank you.