WHICH IS THE BEST FORM OF VITAMIN C?
Vitamin C comes in two forms – ascorbic acid and ascorbate. Ascorbic acid is mildly acidic and ascorbate is alkaline. If you are taking in high amount my preference is an alkaline – balanced combination of the two – roughly 50:50.
Ascorbate forms of vitamin C have to be bound to a mineral to be stable. This could be
calciumWhat it does: Promotes a healthy heart, clots blood, promotes healthy nerves, contracts muscles, improves skin, bone and dental health, relieves aching muscles and bones,…,
magnesiumWhat it does: Strengthens bones and teeth, promotes healthy muscles by helping them to relax, also important for PMS, important for heart muscles and nervous…,
potassiumWhat it does: Enables nutrients to move in and waste products to move out of cells, promotes healthy nerves and muscles, maintains fluid balance in…, sodium,
zincWhat it does: Component of over 200 enzymes in the body, essential for growth, important for healing, controls hormones, aids ability to cope with stress… or
manganeseWhat it does: Helps to form healthy bones, cartilage, tissues and nerves, stabilises blood sugar, promotes healthy cells, essential for reproduction and red blood cell…. These minerals have other benefits and potential downsides at high doses. Sodium ascorbate, in high doses, adds to the sodium (salt) load and is not good if, for example, you have
hypertensionHypertension is more commonly known as high blood pressure…..
While zinc and magnesium are among the most commonly deficient minerals and have positive effects in boosting immunity,
if you are taking very large daily amounts of these ascorbates do check you’re not exceeding 50mg of zinc or 500mg of magnesium for more than a few days.
Potassium is both a very abundant mineral in our diets (a cup of beans will give you 1,000mg while an avocado can provide 700mg) and may also have anti-cancer benefits. A study on breast cancer cells exposed them to either ascorbic acid or potassium ascorbate or both. They measured the growth of these breast cancer cells and found that the combination worked best. ‘
Overall, the results of the present study indicated that potassium potentiated the anti-tumoral effects of ascorbic acid in breast cancer cells in vitro.’ concluded the authors [24];. Thus I prefer an ascorbic acid/ascorbate mixture including potassium, magnesium and zinc ascorbate.
Liposomal vitamin C is another option to increase the dose beyond bowel tolerance. Since it is considerably more expensive my advice would be to take ascorbic acid/ascorbates up to bowel tolerance, then add liposomal up to the desired dose.
To dig deeper on other natural ways to reduce your risk for cancer read
Say No to Cancer by Patrick Holford with Liz Efiong.