Scribd
Upload
116 views

Vitamin - C: Description

Vitamin C is an essential water-soluble nutrient that serves important roles in the body including as an antioxidant. It supports immune function and may help reduce symptoms from colds and flu. Studies show high doses from 4-6 grams daily can reduce cold symptoms by 85% and vitamin C injections are being explored as treatments for COVID-19 lung inflammation and immunity, though more research is still needed on safety and efficacy. Risks of high dose vitamin C injections include potential kidney damage or increased iron absorption.

Uploaded by

mohammathu ismail
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
116 views

Vitamin - C: Description

Vitamin C is an essential water-soluble nutrient that serves important roles in the body including as an antioxidant. It supports immune function and may help reduce symptoms from colds and flu. Studies show high doses from 4-6 grams daily can reduce cold symptoms by 85% and vitamin C injections are being explored as treatments for COVID-19 lung inflammation and immunity, though more research is still needed on safety and efficacy. Risks of high dose vitamin C injections include potential kidney damage or increased iron absorption.

Uploaded by

mohammathu ismail
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

VITAMIN – C

DESCRIPTION
Vitamin C is a water-soluble compound found in living organisms. It is an essential
nutrient for various metabolism in our body and also serves as a reagent for the
preparation of many materials in the pharmaceutical and food industry.

Role of Vitamin C in COVID-19


 Vitamin C for the treatment of common cold.
 Vitamin C cannot be stored in the body and requires daily intake to
maintain adequate levels.
 This combined with smoking, poor lifestyle, not consuming enough
nutritious foods leads to a majority of the population being sub-clinically
Vitamin C deficient.
 For the prevention and treatment of viral respiratory tract infections, it is
recommended to take 4-6 grams of Vitamin C per day.
 In a clinical study conducted with 500 subjects, 4-6g of Vitamin C per day
showed an 85 percent reduction in cold and flu symptoms.
 To those who think they can get adequate Vitamin C from citrus fruits, you
have to understand that you need to consume as many as 20 oranges to get
1g of Vitamin C which is impossible.
How does Vitamin C work?
 With COVID-19, we know that the main reason for the
extensive lung injury is the excessive free radicals and
oxidative stress mounted by the dysfunctional immune
system in an effort to kill the virus but end up harming the
patient instead.
 Vitamin C, a water soluble powerful anti-oxidant, can
neutralise these free radicals and reduce oxidative damage to
the lungs.
 When the balance between oxidants and anti-oxidants is lost,
that’s when the damage happens and patients progress to
severe disease.
 By administering adequate Vitamin C, we can increase the
anti-oxidant status of our body.
 Vitamin C levels in white blood cells (immune cells) are ten
times higher than in plasma, which indicates functional role of
the vitamin in these immune cells.
 Vitamin C also protects these immune cells from oxidative
damage when they try to clear out bacteria, viruses, etc..
 https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/health/the-role-of-vitamin-c-in-
fighting-covid-19-pandemic/2084387/

How does it affect immunity


 Vitamin C affects your immune health in several ways. Its antioxidant
activity can decrease inflammation, which may help improve your immune
function.
 Vitamin C also keeps your skin healthy by boosting collagen production,
helping the skin serve as a functional barrier to keep harmful compounds
from entering your body. Vitamin C in the skin can also promote wound
healing .
 The vitamin also boosts the activity of phagocytes, immune cells that can
“swallow” harmful bacteria and other particles .
 In addition, it promotes the growth and spread of lymphocytes, a type of
immune cell that increases your circulating antibodies, proteins that can
attack foreign or harmful substances in your blood.
 In studies of its effectiveness against viruses that cause the common cold,
vitamin C doesn’t appear to make you any less likely to get a cold — but it
may help you get over a cold faster and make the symptoms less severe.
 There’s also some evidence from animal research and case studies in
humans that high dose or IV vitamin C can reduce lung inflammation in
severe respiratory illnesses caused by H1N1 (“swine flu”) or other viruses.
 However, these doses were far above the DV, and there’s not enough
research to support the use of high dose vitamin C for lung inflammation at
this time. You shouldn’t take high doses of vitamin C supplements — even
orally — because they can cause side effects like diarrhea .

Drug interactions
Vitamin C can interact with some other medications.

fluphenazine (Prolixin)

magnesium salicylate (Novasal)

mexiletine (Mexitil)

salsalate

Condraindication
Contraindicated in those persons who have shown hypersensitivity to any
component of this preparation.

Clinical pharmacology
In humans, an exogenous source of ascorbic acid (vitamin c) is required for
collagen formation and tissue repair. Ascorbic acid (vitamin c) is reversibly
oxidized to dehydroascorbic acid (vitamin c) in the body. These two forms of the
vitamin are believed to be important in oxidation-reduction reactions. The
vitamin is involved in tyrosine metabolism, conversion of folic acid to folinic acid,
carbohydrate metabolism, synthesis of lipids and proteins, iron metabolism,
resistance to infections, and cellular respiration.

Ascorbic acid (vitamin c) deficiency results in scurvy. Collagenous structures are


primarily affected, and lesions develop in bones and blood vessels. Administration
of ascorbic acid (vitamin c) completely reverses the symptoms of ascorbic acid
(vitamin c) deficiency.
https://www.rxlist.com/ascorbic-acid-drug.htm

Risks of vitamin C injections


Vitamin C increases iron absorption from the food you eat. If you take very high
doses of vitamin C, your body might absorb too much iron. This could be a
potential problem if you already have high levels of iron in your body.

If you have kidney disease, very high doses of vitamin C might result in kidney
damage.

High-dose vitamin C injections might increase your chance of developing a kidney


stone. People who’ve had kidney stones in the past may have a greater risk.
https://www.healthline.com/health/vitamin-c-injection - :~:text=Vitamin%20C%20injections%20are
%20approved,wounds%20from%20trauma%20or%20burns.

Dosage and Administration


Ascorbic acid (vitamin c) is usually administered orally. When oral administration
is not feasible or when malabsorption is suspected, the drug may be administered
IM,IV, or subcutaneously. When given parentally, utilization of the vitamin
reportedly is best after IM administration and that is the preferred parenteral
route.

For intravenous injection, dilution into a large volume parenteral such as Normal
Saline, Water for Injection, or Glucose is recommended to minimize the adverse
reactions associated with intravenous injection.
The average protective dose of vitamin C for adults is 70 to 150 mg daily. In the
presence of scurvy, doses of 300 mg to 1 g daily are recommended. However, as
much as 6 g has been administered parenterally to normal adults without
evidence of toxicity.
https://www.rxlist.com/ascorbic-acid-drug.htm

To enhance wound healing, doses of 300 to 500 mg daily for a week or ten days
both preoperatively and postoperatively are generally considered adequate,
although considerably larger amounts have been recommended. In the treatment
of burns, doses are governed by the extent of tissue injury. For severe burns, daily
doses of 1 to 2 g are recommended. In other conditions in which the need for
vitamin C is increased, three to five times the daily optimum allowances appear to
be adequate.

General dosing
For treating vitamin C deficiency, the typical vitamin C injection dose is 200 mg
once daily for up to a week.

For wound healing, the typical vitamin C injection dose is 1 gram once daily for 5
to 21 days.

For off-label uses, a wide variety of vitamin C injection doses have been used.
These typically range from 10 to 100 grams. Doses may be given daily or
periodically at different intervals.

You might also like