Vitamin C Supplements

Vitamin C is essential for the building of all your connective tissues – like your skin, joint cartilage, tendons, blood vessels.

Vitamin C also helps wound healing, and it is essential for collagen formation and a multitude of other more complex and very important functions in your body.

Basically, this isn't "just another supplement recommended by the industry so they can make money" – this one really matters and is essential for your well being and your immune system.

Quality

The main thing to be aware here is that you need to look for Vitamin C supplements that have maximum absorption. As a rule of thumb you can look to get an enteric coated Vitamin C supplements.

But it's up to your needs and your budget as to which type of vitamin C you choose. Here are the 5 different types:

Ascorbic Acid
It's vitamin C at it's pure form. It's the cheapest version. But may cause gastric irritation.

Calcium Ascorbate
This is ascorbic acid bound to calcium, providing a non-acidic form of Vitamin C. It's more gentle on the digestive system.

Magnesium Ascorbate
Yes you guessed right – this is ascorbic acid bound to magnesium :o). It will also be a lot gentler on your stomach than the pure form. Plus it is more absorbable.

Ester C
This one is the "cream of the crop". It is easily absorbable as well as non-acidic. It comes highly recommended for maximum, rapid absorption and for taking large doses. It is also the most expensive Vitamin C type.

Tablet or powder
The powder form of Vitamin C will be absorbed faster than pills because it doesn't have to be digested first. A Vitamin C tablet can be buffered to make it more gentle on the stomach.

Quantity

The standard vitamin C recommendations are rather low in dosage, and are just sufficient enough to fend off diseases like scurvy… A good dose to try is 1,000mg a day. Vitamin C is hard to overdose on, because it is water soluble and will be expelled through your urine, but as always it is useful to know the overdose symptoms and to keep an eye on yourself.

And as with everything on my Supplements Guide, you must consult your doctor before you action any of the information here.