Buffered Vitamin C Powder for a Sensitive Stomach

by KD
(Miami, FL USA)

Hi! I read on your site that you don't recommend the buffered Vitamin C powder because of the minerals included. Just started megadose Vitamin C therapy this week. The one I am currently taking is Solaray Vit C Powder 5,000mg, crystalline calcium ascorbate.

I tend to have a sensitive stomach and this has been working very well so far. I take one teaspoon (equivalent to 5,000 mg -- probably should divide it into two) mixed with my juice in the morning. So far, it has worked well without affecting my stomach at all. I'm concerned about the calcium mixed with it. Should I be? Also, should I divide dosage into two?

Thanks!

KD


RESPONSE


Hi KD,

Glad to see that you've begun supplementing with vitamin C. This is one nutrient that we simply can't get enough of from food alone - and many of us are suffering unknowingly from the symptoms of sub-clinical scurvy.

When I wrote on my best vitamin C page about being careful with buffered vitamin C powder (or pill form, for that matter) that was in regards to doing a vitamin C flush or using vitamin C megadoses for a common cold remedy.

It's really a shame that 5,000 mg (or 5 grams) is considered a megadose. Without that label there would probably be less confusion about these kinds of things.

The vitamin C dosage you are taking is more of a maintenance dose. It's what a healthy person should be consuming everyday. Buffered vitamin C is fine in this case for those with a sensitive stomach.

I don't recommend anything but plain ascorbic acid for the truly high dosages required for a flush (where your tissues are completely saturated with vitamin C) or when battling the symptoms of a cold or flu (where you take enough to kill the intruding viruses).

In the two situations above, you will need much much more than 5 grams per day.

Depending on your level of health, a vitamin C flush might require 40,000 mg (40 grams), 50,000 mg (50 grams), or even more.

The amount you'd need to fight off the common cold would depend on how quickly you started supplementing. If you wait until you're feeling really bad, you'll need massive amounts of ascorbic acid to kill off those microbes making you sick.

With the truly high doses, taking buffered vitamin C powder would give you too many minerals.

Hopefully that answers your question. If not, let me know by leaving a comment below.

As for dosage, vitamin C is used up quickly by our bodies. For that reason it is always better to split up the dose instead of taking it just once a day.

Wishing you the best of health,

Melissa
Approach Wellness