Been pretty sick the last few days and have been slamming one or two of these everyday. Maybe its just one of those 'its comforting to have something you are able to do about this situation things' which I am fine with but it would also be nice if it had a real effect.
It has the proven biological effect of acidifying your piss, especially because this is a much higher dose than what your body can process and the excess ascorbic acid just gets peed away. There are situations where this is actually useful,
CW drugs
for example if you want to excrete amphetamines faster because you've overdone the party snacks.
idk how much truth there is to "lots of vitamin c is good if you have a cold" idea, tho.
a doctor recommended it to me once when I got a really bad flu so I just assumed there was research to back it up. now that I know doctors just make stuff up, idk. I'd look for studies. iirc it's the zinc moreso than the vit c that's supposed to be helpful.
Not much. But also, probably doesn't hurt, and placebo is nice.
B vitamins might give you a (very small) energy boost.
Zinc might help immune system a tiny bit.
There's been a bit of evidence macrodoesing C helps, bit also more evidence it does nothing. So, think its (mostly harmless) bunk science.
Biggest boost might just be encouraging you to hydrate, with electrolytes. Cause drinking plenty of fluids almost definitely will help.
I am a very damp person. I probably drink three liters of water most days.
there's some literature to support taking "mega" doses of vitC reduces the severity/duration of "colds". by mega, i mean 1 gram or 1,000-2,000 mg.
In adults the duration of colds was reduced by 8% (3% to 12%) and in children by 14% (7% to 21%). In children, 1 to 2 g/day vitamin C shortened colds by 18%.
Authors' conclusions: The failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified, yet vitamin C may be useful for people exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise. Regular supplementation trials have shown that vitamin C reduces the duration of colds, but this was not replicated in the few therapeutic trials that have been carried out. Nevertheless, given the consistent effect of vitamin C on the duration and severity of colds in the regular supplementation studies, and the low cost and safety, it may be worthwhile for common cold patients to test on an individual basis whether therapeutic vitamin C is beneficial for them. Further therapeutic RCTs are warranted.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23440782/
for reference, Recommended Daily Allowance is 75 mg for women and 90 mg for men (probably average weight based).
i've mostly seen those packets and similarly dissolved in water/big doses recommended by nurses, but it was also brought up in my human nutrition class and endorsed. they are pretty cheap, they don't taste bad, and the body pisses out all the excess vitamin C so the chances of toxicty are negligible. i use them when i feel something coming on.
No idea, I take the elderberry stuff as a nature's antiviral for when I first start having symptoms of not sure what since the doctors here just tell me to 'deal with it' if I'm able to get to them in the first place. I use a much smaller dose of vitamin c and rosehip as a preventative, not sure if its any good or just a tart candy. I do know too much vitamin c gives you the shits.
I believe vitamin c is more of a preventative than a treatment. you won't recover any faster but if it gives you comfort while your are I'll then it's a small boost to your mental health.
I hope you're feeling better by now.
Short answer: no, these are placebos. There's no solid evidence that large doses of vitamin c provide meaningful health benefits. Your body can't handle a "mega dose" of vitamin C and your kidneys filter most of it out so you urinate most of it out anyway. With supplements in general, it's best to get nutrition from a healthy and balanced diet anyway -- the nutrients are far more bioavailable.
The history of how "alternative" (read: fake) medicine came to latch on to ascorbic acid as a cure-all is interesting though. Linus Pauling famous for his work in subatomic physics, but he later went far afield into medicine, an area he was much less adept at, and developed a pet conjecture that vitamin C had extraordinary health benefits. He wouldn't let go of his pet conjecture even in the face of experiments to the contrary. Quacks latched on to this idea using the terrible reasoning or "how could someone so smart be wrong?"
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4103
Experts need to have the humility to understand that expertise in one field does not transfer to another field. This is such a common problem in STEM
Thank you for the history lesson! Do you think you could use regular Vitamin C mega doses as part of a kidney training regimen? I want to yoke my GFR before my next metabolic panel. My lame-ass doctor is telling me mainlining kale juice while on keto is "extremely harmful" and "will lead to total loss of kidney function in sub-decadal timescales." Maybe if I can just get my good numbers high enough he will get off my chad ass! tysm for your support~
/bit
I am feeling much better now c:
Fantastic bit, comrade. NGL you had me twitching in consternation for the first half. Glad you're feeling better!
