Extra vitamin C okay?
I have a 14 yr old boy that has been told by high school sport coaches to take 1000mg of vitamin c daily. will this have any adverse effects on his health?
Question:Sue Gilbert
Sue Gilbert works as a consulting nutritionist. For many years she worked with Earth's Best Organic Baby Food, integrating nutrition and... Read more
Dear Sheldon,
It is doubtful that 1 gram of Vitamin C will have any harmful effects on your son. Vitamin C not used by the body is excreted in the urine. The risk of sustained ingestion of such amounts is not known, therefore routine use of large doses is not recommended. It would be a good idea to ask the coach the reason for this and to be sure he has substantiated evidence to back it up. After the season is over, it would be wise to drop back to more reasonable amounts of vitamin C. The RDA of vitamin C for a fourteen year old male is 50mg, so you can see, 1000mg far exceeds his daily needs.
Thank you for writing.
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