Vitamin C is a vital nutrient for wellness. It is involved in many crucial body functions, including immune system functioning, and can neutralize harmful free radicals.
How Much Vitamin C Should You Take Daily?
The current recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vitamin C is 90 mg/day for adult men and 75 mg/day for adult women. That said, breastfeeding mothers need an additional 45 mg/dl daily, while smokers need an extra 35 mg/dl.
The human body cannot produce vitamin C on its own. You have to get it from external sources (e.g., diet or supplements).
Thankfully, it appears that meeting your vitamin C needs is pretty easy, as long as you include a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet.
What is Vitamin C Good for?
Vitamin C plays a role in tissue formation and is thus crucial in the body’s natural healing process. Plus, it’s one of the few antioxidants capable of protecting the body against oxidative damage (i.e., from free radicals). With smart diet choices, you can ensure that you get sufficient vitamin C daily.
Vitamin C Sources
Although your body cannot produce vitamin C on its own, it’s still pretty easy for you to meet your vitamin C needs through your diet. As long as you consume a variety of fruits and vegetables, you should be able to meet these needs. For instance, one medium orange provides you with almost 75% of your daily vitamin C recommended intake, while 160 grams of cooked broccoli provides 110%.
Other fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C include:
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Green pepper
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Guava
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Kiwi
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Lemon
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Red pepper
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Strawberry
In general, eating a balanced, varied diet is all you need to meet your body’s daily macro and micro-nutrient needs. Yes, that includes carbohydrates, fat, and protein. That said, many factors like medications and environmental conditions (e.g. climate) may increase your daily vitamin C needs.
How Can You Test Vitamin C with Vivoo?
Vitamin C is an essential vitamin for wellness. The body doesn’t produce it on its own, which means we need to get it from external sources – mainly through the diet. Vitamin C can support the body’s defense system functions thanks to its potent antioxidant effects.
Since urinary vitamin C levels reflect dietary intake, measuring the amounts of vitamin C found in your urine sample offers you a straightforward way to determine whether you’re getting enough.
This is where Vivoo comes in. Vivoo lets you track your urinary vitamin C levels, and based on the results offers you personalized nutritional and lifestyle advice in only 90 seconds! That’s all the time it takes for you to prevent unwanted situations that impact your wellness and take control of your well-being.
DocumentHow to Evaluate Possible Results?
A low urine vitamin C level occurs when the vitamin C levels in your urine are lower than average.
The body doesn’t store vitamin C. Instead, it excretes excess amounts through urine. Only a tiny reserve of vitamin C remains in the body, which is why you need to regularly consume vitamin C to ensure your well-being.
- Score: 5/10
- Label: Low
- Value: 0 mmol/L Vit-C
Symptoms of severe vitamin C deficiency can take months to develop. Symptoms of vitamin C deficiency include:
- Broken hair
- Dry Skin
- Fatigue
Optimal urinary vitamin C levels mean that you are getting the right amount of vitamin C.
- Score: 10/10
- Label: Optimal
- Value: 0.6 - 5 mmol/L Vit-C
Maintaining an optimal level helps with:
- Neutralizing free radicals (through its antioxidant effects)
- Skin health
- Wound healing
Taking in more vitamin C than is recommended is generally not harmful to your wellness. That’s because vitamin C is water-soluble, and excess amounts are excreted through the urine.That said, consuming too much vitamin C (i.e., above 2g/day) may lead to non-life-threatening side effects like:
- Changes in bowel movement
- Stomach cramps or bloating
- Headache
What are the Normal Vitamin C Levels?
As mentioned earlier, adequate consumption of vitamin C helps you maintain your optimal wellness. That’s why it’s so important for you to keep an eye on the level of vitamin C in your body. Luckily, vitamin C levels can be easily detected in urine, so you can easily monitor your vitamin C levels through urine samples.
Excess vitamin C is rapidly excreted through the urine. Note that anywhere between 70-90% of dietary vitamin C (technical term: ascorbic acid) ends up being absorbed into the body.
An increase in vitamin C intake proportionally increases plasma concentrations, along with the rate of its excretion through urine. Of the 100 mg of vitamin C ingested daily, an average of 25 mg is passed out of the body through urine, which helps explain urinary vitamin C levels as a reflection of your dietary intake, and urinary vitamin C levels provide valuable insights into the body’s vitamin C balance.
However, since methods used in different testing approaches may vary, reference ranges can differ.
When you take a urine test with Vivoo, obtaining a value for your Vitamin C parameter between 0.6 and 2.8 mmol/L indicates that you have received sufficient Vitamin C.
When Should You Test Your Vitamin C?
Checking your vitamin C levels can be a useful tool to ensure you're getting enough of this essential nutrient and to fortify your immune system, helping you stay resilient against illnesses like the flu. Here's when and why you might want to consider getting tested:
Determine Whether You're Getting Enough Vitamin C: Consider testing your levels regularly. This can help ensure you're meeting your daily requirements and supporting your overall health.
Suspecting a Deficiency: If you're experiencing unusual fatigue, weakness, or notice that your wounds do not heal quickly, these might be signs of a vitamin C deficiency. Testing your vitamin C can confirm whether you're lacking in this vital nutrient, and if so, it can guide you on how to improve your test results.
Immune System Support: Vitamin C is renowned for its immune-boosting capabilities, aiding your body in fighting off infections. Monitoring your vitamin C levels can ensure that your immune system has the necessary ammunition to stay strong and ward off illnesses.
Tracking Supplement Use: If you're taking vitamin C supplements to address a deficiency or as part of your health regimen, regular testing can help ensure you're on the right track. It ensures that you're taking the correct supplement dosage and benefiting from it.
