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 the presence of free metal ions can not only promote but also initiate free radical reactions, thus making it a potentially dangerous pro-oxidative compound in certain metabolic contexts. Ascorbic acid and its sodium, potassium, and calcium salts are commonly used as antioxidant food additives. These compounds are water-soluble and, thus, cannot protect fats from oxidation: For this purpose, the fat-soluble esters of ascorbic acid with long-chain fatty acids (ascorbyl palmitate or ascorbyl stearate) can be used as food antioxidants. It creates volatile compounds when mixed with glucose and amino acids in 90 °C. It is a cofactor in tyrosine oxidation.