What is Vitamin C?
Vitamin C is a nutrient that is found in food, such as oranges, grapefruit, papaya, peppers, and kale. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and helps prevent damage to cells caused by free radicals. It also works with enzymes to play a key role in making collagen. High-dose vitamin C is an intravenous infusion of an amount of vitamin C that would be too high to absorb orally at once.
Vitamin C plays a role in controlling infections and healing wounds, and is a powerful antioxidant that can neutralize harmful free radicals. It also has anti-inflammatory effects. It is needed to make collagen, a fibrous protein in connective tissue that is weaved throughout various systems in the body: nervous, immune, bone, cartilage, blood, and others. The vitamin helps make several hormones and chemical messengers used in the brain and nerves.
Vitamin C and Health
There is interest in the antioxidant role of vitamin C, as research has found the vitamin to neutralize free radical molecules, which in excess can damage cells. Vitamin C is also involved in the body’s immune system by stimulating the activity of white blood cells.
high dose vitamin C is avoided in the following scenarios:
- Patients with a history of kidney disease may not be able to tolerate high doses of vitamin C. IV vitamin C is avoided in those with kidney stones.
- An inherited disorder called G6PD deficiency is a contraindication for IV Vitamin C. Our Naturopathic Doctors are able to test for this condition in clinic.
- Caution is warranted for those with iron storage diseases such as hemochromatosis as high doses of vitamin C can theoretically improve iron uptake.