Pop Vitamin C Tablets, Get a Kidney Stone

Real Clear Science ^ | February 8, 2013 | Alex B. Berezow

[neverdem]

Vitamin supplements are popular items these days. Vitamin C is particularly popular in the winter, when people pop tablets at the first sign of a cold. However, data indicates that vitamin C doesn't actually prevent colds, but long-term use may slightly reduce the severity or duration of a cold when you do catch one.

So, should we all start popping vitamin C tablets every day? Probably not. A new study in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that men who took 1,000-mg tablets of vitamin C were twice as likely to develop kidney stones as men who did not take vitamin C supplements. (See chart below.) The effect was not observed for men who took multivitamins.

To determine relative risk (RR), the authors compared the rate of kidney stones in men who did not take vitamin supplements (163 per 100,000 person-years) to the rate of kidney stones in men who took vitamin C supplements (310 per 100,000 person-years). Dividing 310 by 163 gives a crude RR of 1.90, which in this case, is the same as the age-adjusted RR...

[Slyfox]

You are more likely to get a kidney stone from taking calcium without at least half the portion of magnesium along side it.

[hope_dies_last]

Thank you! Vitamin C is the best vitamin supplement and the one with the least, if none, adverse reactions. Just the usual misinformation to try to curb vitamin use to keep you sick and on meds. The misinformants have realized the goyam are waking up to the benefits of this super nutrient.
I prefer the 1,000 mg powder stuff with zinc myself. High C!

[Neoliberalnot]

My grandfather never took supplements and died at 96 from pneumonia. Genetics?

[Neoliberalnot]

Baloney. Show me the reference. Vit C is used therapeutically to prevent some toxins from doing oxidative damage to RBCs.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

An important note is that those who take Vitamin C have to take a lot, and often, because it is water soluble and is quickly eliminated from the body, too quickly for it to be substantially absorbed at the cellular level except after taking it for a long time. This also creates the additional problem of acid upset, so a buffered version of Vitamin C is sold.

However, the way around this problem completely is to convert your water soluble Vitamin C into fat soluble Vitamin C. It will be absorbed better and stay in your body longer. While you can buy it this way, OTC, it is far more expensive, so it is much better to make your own.

It is called “Liposomal encapsulated Vitamin C”.

Here is a video how to make your own:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeU—wadrMY

[WCH]

I’ve had an allergic reaction from taking too much Vit. C. Terrible itchy whelps across my entire torso.

[Will88]

My grandfather never took supplements and died at 96 from pneumonia. Genetics?

Who knows? And what caused Linus Pauling's prostate cancer in his 90s?

No one has all the answers concerning what is beneficial or detrimental in the areas of health and nutrition. It will be many more decades before such questions are answered.

And anyone claiming to have definitive answers about much of anything should be viewed with great skepticism. Studies such as this prove nothing. The occurences of kidney stones are very small both among the groups using or not using vitamin C. And there are many other dietary factors that could have affected the outcome.

People just have to use their own judgment and instinct because these debates have many more decades to run.

[mgist]

Because of a cancer scare I take injectable vitamin c. Up to1cc daily. Not sure what it’s doing, but my skin looks great when take it. Absolutely no side effects.

[Georgia Girl 2]

“Nothing but your standard medical bullshit.”

I hate to tell you but at Thanksgiving I contracted that nasty little upper respiratory virus thats going around. I was taking mega doses of vitamin C everyday for about 5 weeks and voila’ got kidney stones. I immediately stopped taking the C and started taking magnesium everyday until I finally got rid of them. If you take a magnesium pill everyday supposedly you will not get the kidney stones. I have started the Vitamin C again and so far so good.

[shineon]

I know that.

[S.O.S121.500]

Nothing but your standard medical bullshit.
````````````````````
3gm. in A.M. and 3 more grams in the P.M. When ill or under attack I’ll up it to bowel tolerance....depending on the degree of sickness that can be as much as 4X the daily. The sicker you are the more you need/tolerate.....read some about this recently but cannot source it at the moment. Likewise NO kidney problems.

[hope_dies_last]

Thank you! Vitamin C is the best vitamin supplement and the one with the least, if none, adverse reactions. Just the usual misinformation to try to curb vitamin use to keep you sick and on meds. The misinformants have realized the goyam are waking up to the benefits of this super nutrient.
I prefer the 1,000 mg powder stuff with zinc myself. High C!

[tarawa]

... or an overactive parathyroid gland.

[corkoman]

Go ahead and eat your bologna and then try finding a randomized-controlled clinical trial that finds a significant effect of dietary "antioxidants".

Here is a recent one that found none: http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f10.

When searching the lay press for antioxidants you will be flooded with unfounded claims from the nutraceutical industry.

There are now several large controlled studies where none of the nutraceuticals were found to have a discernable affect. The FDA is now reviewing claims for dietary antioxidants and I would guess that within 2 years those claims will need clinical data to support those. You can believe what you want but those of use who favor actual data have a different perspective.

[steve86]

I take a half teaspons of baking soda to relieve heartburn

Make sure you closely monitor blood pressure if doing that more than once a week or so.

I've tried it; baking soda relieved the heartburn for only 45 seconds or so -- back to the PPI.

Have had a calcium oxalate kidney stone (don't wish one on my worst enemy), but to the best of my knowledge wasn't taking any significant supplemental C.

I just hope that higher dose (1000-2000 IU) D3 doesn't turn up some bad long-term effects.

[Hot Tabasco]

Make sure you closely monitor blood pressure if doing that more than once a week or so.

Does daily consumption of even a half teaspoon of baking soda elevate Blood pressure? I've always had normal levels......

[Neoliberalnot]

Here is one from pub med. I don’t read the lay press. Been a biological scientist for a few decades. Antioxidant and co-antioxidant activity of vitamin C. The effect of vitamin C, either alone or in the presence of vitamin E or a water-soluble vitamin E analogue, upon the peroxidation of aqueous multilamellar phospholipid liposomes.
Doba T, Burton GW, Ingold KU.
Abstract
Thermally labile azo-initiators, dissolved in either the aqueous or lipid phase, have been used to generate peroxyl radicals at a known, steady rate in an aqueous dispersion of dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine multilamellar liposomes at 37 degrees C in order to study the antioxidant behaviour of ascorbate itself and ascorbate in combination with either alpha-tocopherol or a water-soluble alpha-tocopherol analogue (TROLOX(-]. It is found that ascorbate is an effective inhibitor of peroxidations initiated in the aqueous phase, with each ascorbate terminating 0.6 radical chains (i.e., n = 0.6), but it is a very poor inhibitor of peroxidations initiated in the lipid phase. Peroxidations initiated in the lipid-phase in the presence of either alpha-tocopherol or TROLOX(-) indicate that ascorbate is an excellent synergist with both phenolic antioxidants (n = 0.4). In peroxidations initiated in the aqueous phase ascorbate acts as a co-antioxidant with TROLOX(-) (n = 0.7), but the interpretation of the approximately additive effect obtained in the presence of alpha-tocopherol is complicated by the fact that under the experimental conditions employed alpha-tocopherol alone does not give a distinct, measurable inhibition period. The latter problem is shown to be due to a non-uniform distribution of the water-soluble initiator within the liposome. Other examples of the complicating effects of non-uniform distributions of reactants in kinetic studies of the autoxidation of organic substrates dispersed in water are described.
PMID: 4005285 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[PeaceBeWithYou]

I concur, this is BS. Complete, total, smoking BS.

[corkoman]

Try again - but this time stick to the issue - show us any controlled clinical study demonstrating a significant effect from any of the antioxidants.

[Neoliberalnot]

Go to pubmed and look for yourself. I am not here to do your literature search for you. I do understand chemical reactions and living systems mechanisms. Ascorbate usually acts as an antioxidant when doses are reasonable. It typically reacts with potent reactive oxygen species, such as the hydroxyl radical formed from hydrogen peroxide. Such radicals are damaging to animals and plants at the molecular level due to their possible interaction with nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. Sometimes these radicals initiate chain reactions. Ascorbate can terminate these chain radical reactions by electron transfer. Ascorbic acid is special because it can transfer a single electron, owing to the stability of its own radical ion called "semidehydroascorbate", dehydroascorbate. The net reaction is: RO • + C6H7O6- → ROH + C6H6O6• - On the other hand, excessive or toxic doses of Vit C can actually initiate free radical formation and damage. The mega dose proponents don't want to hear this, but every substance is toxic and just a matter of dose.