Vitamin C is not so good
2007/12/18 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia
Probably, if Linus Pauling had not had such a good idea of vitamin C, the prestige of vitamin C in the prevention of falls would not be so widespread. But Pauling was convinced that he had that influence and also wrote a book about it. He explained that to be effective, very high doses of vitamin C should be taken, so if to be healthy it is advisable to take between 50 and 90 milligrams a day, normally, Pauling himself consumed 1000 milligrams or more, which seems a suitable dose for adults.
The difference between one recommendation and another is evident. Yes, you can't deny the need to take vitamin C. Like the rest of vitamins, it has important functions in the organism, but the body is not able to produce it, so it must acquire it from outside. If not taken enough, the sick person; in the case of vitamin C, the scurvy appears.
Before they did not know what the scurvy was creating. It was a serious illness that caused many deaths, especially in boat crews. XVIII. In the nineteenth century, a doctor of the British Navy, James Lind, showed that with citrus fruits the disease was avoided. Thus, although they still did not know vitamin C, they realized that citrus fruits had something that protected it.
In 1937 Walter Haworth describes the structure of vitamin C. Subsequently, numerous investigations were carried out that explained their functions and were popularized. They believed that, in addition to being healthy, it served to combat many diseases, including the waterfall. If this were not enough, Linus Pauling reinforces this conviction. And so the myth of the capacity of vitamin C has come to this day.
Explanatory study
However, recently two researchers from the universities of Canberra (Australia) and Helsinki (Finland) stripped the myth. A total of 55 studies carried out over the past 65 years on the effect of vitamin C on chills were analyzed and it was concluded that the intake of high doses of vitamin C is useless.
Looking closely at the data, they observed that vitamin C has some influence on the cold, but very limited. It seems that if vitamin C additives are taken, the waterfalls are cured first of all, but not long before: in adults 8% and in children the duration of the waterfalls decreases 14% thanks to vitamin C.
According to this, researchers consider that it is not worth taking high doses of vitamin C, since the effectiveness of vitamin C is low. In addition, cataract is not a very serious disease in most cases, and is easily overcome by regular care.
However, the study found that vitamin C was especially beneficial in some cases. In fact, they observed that in very cold areas for athletes (skiers and mountaineers) and in which the organism had to make a great effort (Maratonians), the risk of falls was reduced to half if much vitamin C was taken.
So you already know: if you are a rabid athlete or you love ice and snow, you should take a lot of vitamin C, but if not, just take the dose you get with food. Keep in mind that an excess of vitamin C also has side effects, one of them diarrhea.
Published in Deia
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