Special K contains 2% or less of sugar, salt, malt flavouring, sucralose, natural and artificial flavour, and BHT for freshness. Vitamins and minerals include vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E (alpha tocopherol acetate), niacinamide, reduced iron, vitamin B (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B (thiamin hydrochloride), vitamin A (palmitate), vitamin B (riboflavin), folic acid, and vitamin B In the US, Special K provides meal replacements in two different forms, protein meal bars and protein shakes. There are eleven varieties of Special K Protein Meal Bars: Mocha Crunch Protein, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Strawberry, Double Chocolate, Chocolatey Chip, Honey Almond, Cranberry Walnut, Chocolate Caramel, Chocolatey Brownie,
Vitamin C an article by Linus Pauling. Briefly, his position was that for optimal health, humans should be consuming at least 2,300 mg/day to compensate for the inability to synthesize vitamin C. The recommendation also fell into the consumption range for gorillas - a non-synthesizing near-relative to humans. A second argument for high intake is that serum ascorbic acid concentrations increase as intake increases until it plateaus at about 190 to 200 micromoles per liter (µmol/L) once consumption exceeds 1,250 milligrams. As noted, government recommendations are a range of 40 to 110 mg/day and normal plasma is approximately 50 µmol/L, so 'normal'