In a past blog, I talked about how we're a bit overly crazy about vitamin C in our society. We'll take megadoses (1-2 grams per day), thinking it will help us fight aging and prevent colds and prevent cancer and everything else. I pointed out how none of this is true, and how too much vitamin C may be harmful, despite the fact that it's a water-soluble vitamin (meaning it can dissolve in fluid so that your body can excrete in the urine).
Well, more research has come out showing that vitamin C isn't all it's Cracked up to be.
A recent study found that vitamin C, when taking in megadoses, reduced the effectiveness of anticancer drugs in animals. The doses used were equivalent to about 2 grams in humans.
In the study, mice underwent chemotherapy to treat cancer. When they were given the high doses of vitamin C, the effectiveness of the chemotherapy was reduced by about 30%.
This is another piece of evidence that you can have too much of a good thing. Antioxidants, like vitamin C, are certainly healthy in moderate amounts. But when you start taking very large doses, you can get the opposite of what you want.
There's no need to be taking more than 200 milligrams of vitamin C per day, anyway. This is the amount that will maximally saturate your blood levels; anything more is excreted.
Overall, you want to stick with getting your antioxidants from your diet, and a standard multivitamin like the 20/20 multivitamin. Avoid large single doses of antioxidant nutrients like vitamin C. They won't benefit you, and in some cases may even cause harm.