It had been just a few years since I’d had a typical blood take a look at finished. I used to be going forwards and backwards between being pregnant and breastfeeding for about 5 years, so any weariness I used to be feeling I naturally attributed to these elements.
Not to say, prenatal nutritional vitamins are filled with further nutritional vitamins and minerals of all types. So if I used to be to check my blood on the time, my pure ranges would not be mirrored, anyway. However, years later, I discovered myself feeling increasingly drained with no strong clue as to why.
So off I went to the physician and obtained a full blood take a look at—a lot to my shock, my vitamin C ranges had been exceptionally low. I had joined the whopping 42% of the U.S. grownup inhabitants that has inadequate vitamin C ranges (not a enjoyable membership you wish to be a part of), despite the fact that I prioritized each day fruit consumption. Once I realized the science behind how vitamin C is absorbed via meals, although, I am unable to say I used to be too shocked.
See, the type of vitamin C present in meals (and lots of dietary supplements) is a kind referred to as ascorbic acid. Your physique can deal with round 300 to 400 milligrams of purely ascorbic acid at a time, which is a helpful decrease dose present in meals, multivitamins, and different multi-ingredient complexes. But I realized that in case you are consuming ascorbic acid in excessive doses, it may be arduous to really take in greater than your physique can deal with. And as a result of vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, your physique will not retailer that extra for later use (not like its fat-soluble cousins nutritional vitamins D, E, A, and Okay). It merely will get flushed out, which is a serious bummer.
To say the very least, getting sufficient vitamin C was way more sophisticated than I believed.