I discuss this nutrient with all of my patients. I discuss this nutrient with anyone who wants to know how to stay healthy through the holidays. It is so important, and yet relatively ignored.
Have you guessed which one it is?
Answer: Vitamin C
 By now you may be saying, “But I take my vitamin C everyday.” “I drink a big glass of orange juice daily.”
If that is all you are doing, you are fooling yourself.
Vitamin C in scientific studies has been shown to support every system in the body. For example, there are studies showing that it benefits cardiovascular health, reduces the risk of cancer, improves the health of our eyes, benefits our skin, and, of course, improves our immune system.
Dr. Linus Pauling over 50 years ago insisted that most people were taking too little vitamin C. The RDA used to be 60 mg per day. Then in 2000 the level was increased to a whopping 90mg per day. This is the amount that is needed to prevent scurvy, not to make us healthy (just enough to prevent scurvy is not adequate).
Why do we need to take vitaminC?
We are one of the few mammals that do not make our own. Cats and dogs can eat items from the ground with (almost) impunity because they make vitamin C in their systems. Apparently guinea pigs are like us, they do not make their own vitamin C.
A glass of orange juice purportedly has less than 100mg of vitamin C in it. The problem is that once the orange juice has been made, the vitamin C dissipates very rapidly. ½ cup of red pepper has less than 100mg in it. Is this really enough?
The general rule of thumb my mentors have advised is to take vitamin C until just before you get rumblings in your tummy and loose stools. That is the critical indicator that you have more than you need.
What is amazing about vitamin C is that we each differ in how much we need and how much we tolerate. Some people find 250 mg per day is their limit when they are well. Others find they can take 5000mg on an average day.
When we are sick, we need more vitamin C. It really boosts the immune system and is essential for helping us to get over viral and bacterial infections. I learned from a patient to take 1000 mg every hour until the rumbling occurred. The next day I took a little less than that same amount. Some people can tolerate 2000mg every hour until the rumbling.
My favorite story is of my colleague whose grandson came to visit. The grandson came down with the chicken pox on the second day of his visit. Normally he tolerated 1000mg of vitamin C in a day. When he became sick his dosage rose to 40,000mg! Yes, you read that correctly. He recovered in 2 days, and by the 3rd the illness was all gone.
Another patient of mine regularly takes 10,000mg per day. She finds that at that level, she keeps from getting most illnesses that are “going around.” When she feels herself challenged by one, she doubles her vitamin C. This practice has kept her healthy through the last several flu seasons.
While I think a whole vitamin C is ideal for daily use, one only needs ascorbic acid for the acute buildup. Thus vitamin C can be low in price. There are some people who find ascorbic acid too acidic. There are buffered C’s on the market that they may tolerate better. Be careful, however, to take the buffered C away from food so that it does not interfere with hydrochloric acid production in your stomach necessary for digestion.
Best wishes for a wonderful and healthy holiday season | 
