The RDA for vitamin C is enough to prevent scurvy, but not enough to prevent heart attacks, strokes, cancer and many infectious diseases. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, we should raise the RDA from 70 mg in women and 90 mg in men to 200 mg per day. While we could get 200 mg per day in our diets, few of us consume 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. In addition we live in a sea of toxins that lead to considerable free radical stress, and we don't have the antioxidant reserves we need to neutralize them.
The actual amount of vitamin C we need depends on our situation, which can include infections, cancer, toxic exposures, stress, insufficient sleep, diet, smoking and many other lifestyle factors. The amount we need varies from a low of 200 mg per day to more than 100,000 mg per day (100 grams). The concept of bowel tolerance is discussed as is the use of intravenous vitamin C.
