Vitamin Information Center

I woke up with a sore throat and a bad attitude last week.

The sore throat was the first symptom, followed soon after by a runny nose and a lot of sneezing. And the raunchy mood resulted when I realized I was coming down with my second cold in less than a month.

I do not have time to be sick!

I went months without any kind of cold, and then to have two within weeks of each other, well, it was very discouraging.

So I immediately began doubling my daily intake of Emergen-C. Normally I take a packet in the morning and a packet at night. Sometimes, after a run of more than six miles or so, I take a packet before and after the run to deal with an occasional post-run headache.

By the second day, the cold was worse, but my resolve to beat it remained. I took six packets a day, in bottles of water, and by the fourth day, the cold had gotten much better. Six days after that first sore throat, I am almost symptom-free.

As I was driving home one night this week, I heard a radio commercial for a vitamin C supplement. What I found interesting is that it cited two studies that found higher doses of vitamin C can lengthen your life, help with PMS, and are a natural anti-inflammatory. Seriously, can this be true? And was it possible to overdose on vitamin C?
So I did some research. At first, I was more confused than ever as different studies and scientists offered different opinions.

But I did find some of what I was looking for. First, if you take more vitamin C than your body needs, you will just get rid of it.

“You really can’t overdose on water-soluble vitamins,” said Ken Hollen of Diet and Sport Nutrition, who has become my go-to guy on supplements. “What will happen is that you will get diarrhea.”

A person would need to take 10,000 to 13,000 mg to get to that point. I was taking six packets of Emergen-C, which has a lot of other vitamins and minerals in it, but that means I was taking 6,000 mg of vitamin C. (In fact, one article I found said it’s best to take vitamin C in conjunction with other vitamins or nutrients because of the synergistic effect that mimics whole food and reduces negative side effects.)

Another article made the point that megadosing any vitamin or mineral can throw your system out of balance, so you should consult a doctor or nutritionist to make sure you don’t create a different problem for yourself.

Hollen also pointed out, as did two of the articles I read, that taking vitamin C with calcium ascorbate can buffer your stomach and make sure you don’t increase the acidity of your system. Unfortunately, many supplements, including my beloved Emergen-C, use ascorbic acid, which can cause increased acidity.

As for all of those fabulous things that infomercial said vitamin C could do for you, there are studies that show significant impacts on health by increasing the intake of vitamin C. The one I was most interested in was the anti-inflammatory properties. Hollen explained to me that because vitamin C is found in the fluid around the joints and ligaments, it removes some of the inflammatory properties, but it’s not significant enough to be taken for that purpose alone.

Interestingly, nearly all of the articles and studies I read said increasing vitamin C even a little bit would most likely make most people feel better.

Anyone who takes vitamin supplements and looks at its bottles or boxes is familiar with the vitamins that are contained in each tablet.

But what do those vitamins really do? Do you really need to take them? Below is a list of the most common vitamins found in supplements as well as a description of what they do.

Vitamin A

- commonly found in leafy vegetables and in other products like carrots, broccoli, papaya, eggs and liver, this vitamin helps keep the eyes healthy. A deficiency of this vitamin can cause permanent loss of eyesight.

Vitamin B1

- thiamine is the other name for this vitamin. It keeps the heart and the digestive and nervous systems functioning normally. Aside from that, thiamine is also important in a person’s physical growth and development.

Good sources of this vitamin include beef, pork, nuts and legumes, among other foods.

Vitamin B2

- otherwise known as riboflavin, this vitamin is important in metabolizing energy as well as fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Common sources of this vitamin include milk, cheese and leafy vegetables. A deficiency of this vitamin is signaled by cracked lips, mouth ulcers and sore throat, among other symptoms.

Vitamin C

- also known as ascorbic acid, this vitamin has a lot of benefits attributed to it. Some of them include boosting the immune system and minimizing the symptoms of illnesses.

It is also a well-known antioxidant. Lack of this vitamin can cause scurvy that leads to loss of teeth and eventually, death.

Apple cider vinegar has been used to treat various illnesses for centuries. If one can get past its bitter taste, one can find relief in its healing attributes. It has been known to aid in the treatment of arthritis, gout, acne, high cholesterol, chronic fatigue, and acid reflux.

One of its more common purposes is to stave off a cold or flu. It is said to help cure a sore throat, soothe a stubborn cough, and treat a sinus infection, the usual symptoms that accompany a cold or flu. Using an apple cider vinegar flu remedy is easy, natural, and safe for most individuals.
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