It had been just a few years since I would had a typical blood check accomplished. I used to be going forwards and backwards between being pregnant and breastfeeding for about 5 years, so any weariness I used to be feeling I naturally attributed to these components.
To not point out, prenatal nutritional vitamins are filled with additional nutritional vitamins and minerals of all types. So if I used to be to check my blood on the time, my pure ranges would not be mirrored, anyway. Nonetheless, years later, I discovered myself feeling increasingly more drained with out a stable clue as to why.
So off I went to the physician and acquired a full blood check—a lot to my shock, my vitamin C ranges had been exceptionally low. I had joined the whopping 42% of the U.S. grownup inhabitants1 that has inadequate vitamin C ranges (not a enjoyable membership you wish to be a part of), although I prioritized day by day fruit consumption. As soon as I realized the science behind how vitamin C is absorbed by means of meals, although, I can not say I used to be too shocked.
See, the type of vitamin C present in meals (and plenty of dietary supplements) is a kind known as ascorbic acid. Your physique can deal with round 300 to 400 milligrams of purely ascorbic acid at a time, which is a helpful decrease dose present in meals, multivitamins, and different multi-ingredient complexes. However I realized that if you’re consuming ascorbic acid in excessive doses, it may be onerous to truly soak up greater than your physique can deal with. And since vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, your physique will not retailer that extra for later use (in contrast to its fat-soluble cousins nutritional vitamins D, E, A, and Ok). It merely will get flushed out, which is a serious bummer.
To say the very least, getting sufficient vitamin C was rather more difficult than I assumed.