 Over the past few months especially, the mainstream media has been adamant in setting aside any sort of alternative health medicine, especially Vitamin C, as it's a very powerful antioxidant crucial for so many functions in our bodies. Part of the reason we're locked inside eating grains, preserved foods, basically a lack of fresh quality foods is to deprive us of Vitamin C and make us sick. They're also doing this with other vitamins, but not as obviously, mainly because most people aren't as familiar with those vitamins as they are Vitamin C, you know the fat soluble vitamins D3K2, B vitamins, omega fatty acids that are just as if not more important. So the three questions to address today are, you know, what type of vitamin C to take, how much of it should we take, and is there a natural alternative? If you guys want to know what I actually do on a day-to-day basis to get my Vitamin C, check out the video on my Patreon below where you can sign up for bi-weekly videos where you'll learn just a bit more. And since my channel is about animal foods, you know, predominantly the carnivore diet, I will say that most people on that type of diet will benefit from incorporating a vitamin C source and it's very difficult to obtain a raw food quality high enough to not have to use a supplement. That being said, you know, cooking food does reduce the vitamin C slightly, you know, it's why some raw primal dieters do feel a lot better. The anti-scorbidic properties in their diet are much higher. So let's understand a little bit about vitamin C before we start chugging down any powders. Since it is a water-soluble vitamin, we do need to obtain it on a more frequent basis compared to the fat-soluble vitamins. You know, with those you can literally go months over a year without getting, you know, vitamin D, vitamin K, vitamin A because they're literally stored in the fat tissue. Vitamin C, certain B vitamins, you have to get them at least several times a week in certain amounts to be in optimal health. And that's the reference here, guys, optimal health. Most people aren't getting enough of any nutrient, let alone near optimal. So, you know, is it a big deal that the average person isn't getting enough vitamin C? Probably not, you know, because they have so many other health problems going on. Interestingly, most animals do synthesize their own vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid, ascorbic acid being the part of vitamin C that our bodies actually use, our cells use. Most people do recognize the role of vitamin C in immune function. That's because it's involved in the creation of certain immune cells and it protects those immune cells from oxidation, which is incredibly important when they're fighting off infection. The largest role might be that it is a co-factor in many enzymatic reactions, enzymes being proteins that perform various functions in the body on a molecular level. The most popular protein reaction is the synthesis of collagen. It's involved with a bunch of other amino acids as well. It's needed in gene expression, and we've touched on gene expression in, you know, why my vitamins are important video, understanding how it plays a much larger role in our health, and again, potent antioxidant. And it's such an important antioxidant that it actually prevents the oxidation of the other antioxidants, glutathione, vitamin E. So, if you guys do want to know more about that, I did a video on antioxidants several months back. Vitamin C is needed for the production of adrenal hormones, peptide hormones, so it goes above and beyond, you know, boosting your immune system. Of course, it's nice to know what's actually going on in our body, but how do we feel? You know, do we feel these benefits when we take vitamin C? Now, there is a debate between ascorbic acid versus whole food vitamin C, you know, is the whole food form better, or can you just use ascorbic acid? And in my opinion, there's no point in debating this back and forth, because ascorbic acid is a highly processed chemical made from cornstarch, and you don't want to consume it because of all of the negative things that are used in making it, as well as the pollution of the initial product. I'm inclined to believe the argument between ascorbic acid and whole food vitamin C was because there were some companies that were trying to sell, you know, highly processed agrochemical garbage, you know, similar to collagen powder and glycine powder. You know, that being said, animals are synthesizing ascorbic acid, and ascorbic acid is what the cells actually use, and when people do intravenous vitamin C, you know, they inject it into their bloodstream, it is ascorbic acid. You know, the reason these other molecules occur in the whole foods complex is because ascorbic acid depletes or uses these substances in your body, but that's not to say your body isn't getting these molecules from other whole food sources in your diet. You know, we know ascorbic acid depletes tyrosinase, which is involved in the skin and melanin, and you know, the question is, how big of a deal is that when the amount of vitamin C you're taking every day is never going to be super significant? I mean, I guess, yeah, there could be a problem if you take super, super high doses of ascorbic acid. But again, I really don't want to dwell on this argument because we will be using a whole food vitamin C as ascorbic acid is processed garbage. And by no means are these the only, you know, molecules needed for the absorption of vitamin C. You know, vitamin C doesn't just go into your cells and get used up. The body generates dehydroascorbic acid from vitamin C, which is the oxidized form of ascorbic acid, then dehydroascorbic acid can be transported into the cells where it is then reduced back into ascorbic acid using glutathione, other molecules that require various amino acids and the vitamins. And this is why I emphasize overall nutrient density. You'll benefit much more from eating steak, wild fruit, and raw milk than eating, you know, vitamin C powder on its own. Just because you're consuming something doesn't mean it's being utilized or absorbed optimally and that is heavily dependent on nutrient synergy. What's different about vitamin C is that there is actually an RDA and the RDA of 60 milligrams is reasonably close compared to most other nutrients, but we can assume with all of the negative lifestyle factors and oxidation that people are exposed to, it's not nearly enough. 60 milligrams in a perfect diet might actually be okay for some people, but by no means are our diets anywhere close to perfect. But again, that is unique because most other vitamins don't even have an RDA, let alone something that is close. If you look at the RDA for most of these other nutrients, it's like 1-5% of what it's supposed to be. For them to be this close with vitamin C, that's off in a way. This ties back to the water soluble versus fat soluble argument. Since our bodies can't store incredibly high amounts of water soluble vitamins, you're not going to benefit from a super high amount whereas something like vitamin D3 where your body literally needs millions of IUs in your organs and fat to be an optimal health, it makes other fat soluble vitamin synergy difficult and harder to balance in a way. For vitamin C and certain B vitamins, it's easy. You just have a certain amount every day in a moderate and consistent dose. Not to say you can overdose on vitamin C or certain B vitamins. It's certainly more difficult to do than the fat soluble vitamins. Most people will see maximum benefits at a maintenance dose of around 100mg per day once you fix your diet, once you fix your lifestyle factors. A lot of people might need higher anywhere from 200mg to 400mg of vitamin C per day. And I'll go over the whole food measurements in my Patreon video today. So if you guys are thinking like, oh Frank, well how many two spoons of this powder equals that, check out the Patreon video. So in a state of deficiency, if you were deficient in vitamin C, once you start taking it, you'll feel really good the first few days, much better regardless of the dosage and then you'll feel as good as that for a period of time. And I've experimented with much higher doses of vitamin C without noticing any benefits. Vitamin C can make negative molecules such as oxalic acid and cause digestive upset. Although I wouldn't be too concerned about that, what I would be more concerned about is excess iron uptake and inhibiting copper absorption. I had my iron overload issues several months ago and when I took ascorbic acid with a stake, oh man say goodbye to your liver. A lot of you guys have emailed me about vitamin C, the benefits over the past few years, although I still disagree with the mega dosing. It's definitely something I've overlooked despite experimenting with various ascorbic acid and vitamin C supplements over this period of time. It seems as if my iron overload has something to do with this. Now that I'm supplementing copper, magnesium in very high amounts, getting all of the minerals and vitamins I need for optimal metabolism, consuming vitamin C is making a positive difference, whereas before when I took vitamin C, I was absorbing more iron and destroying my liver. You guys might remember in my past raw dairy videos, I covered how raw milk is high in vitamin C and that very fresh raw meat has a few milligrams of vitamin C. So raw primal diet, lots of quality dairy, lots of vitamin C, lots of iron, wasn't a great combination for me at the time. So you might be one of those rare people that can go raw primal with the dairy, with the raw eggs, with the raw meat and feel really good. Have a pretty good vitamin C status without needing supplements, but that's for you guys to figure out. So as I mentioned, I'll link the Patreon down below if you guys want to see what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis. And there's the other methods you guys can support me that are in the description as well. Thanks for joining me, guys. Let me know how you like this. I know I'm a couple months late, but hey, whatever.