How Much Vitamin C Should You Take Each Day? According to the World Health Organization 45 milligrams are enough. The recommendation, however, would be blatantly wrong. The minimum dose to take daily, in fact, would be at least double, 95 milligrams. The error was brought to light by a research work conducted by experts from the University of Washington. In the study a very important experiment is re-analyzed, dating back to 1944 and attributed to the Scorby Institute in Sheffield, UK. An experiment that has never been questioned since.
At the time, as he reports The food fact, the researchers were not interested in defining minimum doses of essential nutrients such as vitamin C. They only wanted to establish the minimum quantities of fresh foods, such as vegetables, to be assigned to ship crews to prevent scurvy from arising, disease caused by insufficient levels of vitamin C and other nutrients. For this purpose, they had recruited 20 volunteers and had them set sail on a ship where they would remain for months. The protocol called for the group to be divided into three subgroups, each undergoing a different treatment: 0, 10 or 70 milligrams of vitamin C per day, to be taken until clear signs of the disease were seen.
After nine months of experimentation, the minimum dose of vitamin C needed to avoid scurvy was identified, namely 45 milligrams per day. A measure then also adopted by the WHO. How do you read onAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition, however, those calculations were rather approximate and led to completely wrong conclusions. In fact, by remaking them, a much higher dose has been reached. The minimum amount needed to maintain good tissue health is 95 mg of vitamin C per day: one serving more than 100% higher than that still recommended today by the WHO.
.