the Power of Vitamin C

A couple months ago I came down with a cold. I guess my last-minute resort, Echinacea, couldn’t help prevent this one. In any case, a nice contact of mine at the time recommended “Emergen-C” to me, saying that during the winter he drinks it all the time to avoid colds.

I traveled to the nearest vitamin store to get it. It costs about $10 for a box of 36 packets. You can choose from different flavors, none of which sounded very appealing to me, so I chose “Super Orange.” It still tasted bad. Instead of mixing it in water, I would put it in juice or ice tea mix or something…I never liked it. BUT, it REALLY WORKS. As soon as you drink it, you feel a bit better.

So I decided I’d do some research on Vitamin C, to see what’s really going on. I found tons of stuff online. This article describes Vitamin C is high detail, in particular about Vitamin C reacting with other chemicals/supplements in the body. The one main side-effect from taking too much Vitamin C is diarrhea. Many people suggest taking as much as your body can handle (i.e. if you get diarrhea, then take it down a notch). Others recommend to stay closer to the daily recommended intake of under 100mg and not to go farther than 1000mg.

In the meantime, I also found pure Vitamin C powder at the local health food store. Vitamin C is really just abscorbic acid (though it can come in different forms), which is what makes those bright-colored sugary “worms” I used to eat as a teenager taste tangy. So about 3-4 times a day, I added about 1/2 teaspoon of Vitamin C to whatever I was drinking. I barely noticed the taste, and I was getting about 5-10 grams of Vitamin C a day.

Vitamin C allowed me to function with my cold. Most symptoms (stuffy nose, etc) were alleviated (by A LOT), and if I took a couple aspirin as well, any temperature I had was not noticeable. It was like taking an antihistamine or Advil Cold & Sinus but without the drugs (Advil C&S, non -drowsy version, is great but it has pseudoepinephrine in it, which is basically like taking caffeine to keep you up & going). Also, Vitamin C has other medical properties that benefit the body.

Since Vitamin C also has great anti-oxidant abilities, I try to take it as much as possible. My favorite method of ingesting it is the powder, but I also have big 1000mg (+1g) pills that are much more portable. Of course, if I feel tired & sluggish (like before coming down with a cold), I try to take more.