Vitamin C megadosage Vitamin C megadosage Vitamin C megadosage is a term describing the consumption or injection of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in doses well beyond the current Recommended Dietary Allowance of 90 mg/day, and often well beyond the Tolerable upper intake level of 2,000 mg/day. There is no scientific evidence that megadosage helps to cure or prevent cancer, the common cold, or a variety of other medical conditions. Historic advocates of vitamin C megadosage include Linus Pauling, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954. Pauling argued that, due to a non-functional form of L-gulonolactone oxidase, an enzyme required to make
Chemistry of ascorbic acid acid solution. Electrolyzing the solution of potassium iodide produces iodine, which reacts with ascorbic acid. The end of process is determined by potentiometric titration in a manner similar to Karl Fischer titration. The amount of ascorbic acid can be calculated by Faraday's law. Another alternative uses "N"-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as the oxidizing agent, in the presence of potassium iodide and starch. The NBS first oxidizes the ascorbic acid; when the latter is exhausted, the NBS liberates the iodine from the potassium iodide, which then forms the blue-black complex with starch. Chemistry of ascorbic acid Ascorbic acid is an organic compound with