Visitor Questions

The Daily Value (DV) of vitamin C that you’ll see on food labels is 60 mg. We have adopted the National Academies of Science recommendation of 75 and 90 milligrams per day, respectively—the DRI (daily reference intake) for adult women and men 19 years and older—as our WHF recommended daily intake level for vitamin C. This amount was determined as a means to prevent nutrient deficiency and to provide the general healthy population with a guideline for sufficient vitamin C to meet the body’s demand for various physiological functions.

At this time, there is not a known “optimal” amount of vitamin C, but rather a recommended intake based on the current state of knowledge of its requirement, functions, metabolism, utilization and excretion by the body. It is understood that disease states may impact this recommendation. In these cases, we suggest seeking counsel on your question from a licensed healthcare practitioner who is experienced in this area of health promotion.

The Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for vitamin C is 2000 mg daily for adults. Vitamin C has low toxicity and is not believed to cause serious adverse effects at high intakes; however, amounts higher than 2000 mg daily have been linked to increase risk of kidney stones and diarrhea.