Many fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamin C, a crucial ingredient.

It’s crucial to consume enough of this vitamin to keep your immune system strong. Additionally, it is critical for bone health, the development of your brain, and the healing of wounds.

It’s interesting to note that some people contend that vitamin C pills have advantages over food-based vitamin C.

The notion that vitamin C supplements can shield people from the common cold is among the most popular justifications for taking them.

However, a lot of supplements have exceptionally high concentrations of the vitamin, which might occasionally have negative side effects.

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, which means it dissolves in water and is not stored by the body.

Water-soluble vitamins do not become stored in the body as fat-soluble vitamins do.

Instead, your body uses the vitamin C you eat to deliver it to your tissues, and any extra is expelled in urine.

It’s crucial to eat foods high in vitamin C every day because your body cannot store it or create it on its own (1Trusted Source).

High vitamin C supplementation, however, may have unfavorable effects like stomach upset and kidney stones.

Stomach issues could result from taking too much vitamin C.

Digestion distress is the most frequent adverse consequence of excessive vitamin C intake.

In most cases, using vitamin C supplements instead of eating meals containing the vitamin causes these negative effects.

If you take in more than 2,000 mg at once, stomach problems are most likely to occur. As a result, 2,000 mg has been set as the tolerated upper limit (TUL) per day.

Diarrhea and nausea are the most typical digestive side effects of high vitamin C consumption.

However, there is no proof to back up the claim that excessive ingestion causes acid reflux.

Overuse of iron may result from vitamin C.

It is well known that vitamin C improves iron absorption.

Non-heme iron, which is present in plant foods, can be bound by it. Heme iron, the kind of iron present in animal products, is better absorbed by your body than non-heme iron, which is not.

Non-heme iron and vitamin C bind, making it considerably simpler for your body to absorb. This is a crucial function, especially for those whose main source of iron comes from plant-based meals.

One study on adults revealed that taking 100 mg of vitamin C with a meal enhanced iron absorption by 67%..

However, people who have illnesses like hemochromatosis, which raise the risk of iron buildup in the body. 

In these conditions, consuming excessive amounts of vitamin C may result in iron overload, which can seriously harm your heart, liver, pancreas, thyroid, and central nervous system.

However, if you don’t have a medical condition that makes you more susceptible to absorbing iron, iron overload is very unusual. Additionally, when too much iron is taken in the form of supplements, iron overload is more likely to happen.

Kidney stones could develop if you take supplements in large doses.

Oxalate, a biological waste product, is the form in which extra vitamin C is eliminated from the body.

Oxalate usually leaves the body through urine. Oxalate, however, can occasionally bind to minerals and form crystals, which can result in kidney stone formation.

When is too much vitamin C?

It’s difficult to ingest too much vitamin C because it’s water-soluble and your body excretes excess amounts of it after a few hours of consumption.

You can hardly ever consume too much vitamin C through diet alone. Any extra vitamin C ingested in healthy individuals over the daily recommended quantity simply flushes out of the body.

To put that into perspective, before your intake reached the acceptable maximum limit, you would need to consume 29 oranges or 13 bell peppers.

However, supplement use increases the dangers of vitamin C overdose.

Bottom line: For the majority of people, vitamin C is generally safe.

If you obtain it from food rather than a supplement, this is particularly true.

The danger of eating too much vitamin C and developing adverse effects, the most frequent of which are stomach issues, is higher for people who use vitamin C supplements.

However, eating excessive doses of vitamin C may potentially have more severe effects, like iron overload and kidney stones.

Fortunately, avoiding vitamin C tablets will easily prevent these possible negative effects.

You probably don’t need to take high dosages of vitamin C unless you have a deficiency, which is uncommon in healthy individuals.

Interactions

There could be interactions with:

Aluminum. Taking vitamin C can improve your body’s ability to absorb aluminum from drugs that do, like phosphate binders. For those with kidney issues, this could be dangerous.

Chemotherapy. Antioxidants like vitamin C are used during chemotherapy, although there is fear that this may lessen the impact of the chemotherapy medications.

Estrogen. Your estrogen levels may rise if you combine vitamin C with oral contraception or hormone replacement medication.

Protease blockers. Vitamin C taken orally may lessen the impact of certain antiviral medications.

Niacin and statins. The effects of niacin and statins, which may help persons with high cholesterol, may be lessened when taken with vitamin C.

Warfarin (Jantoven). Vitamin C in high doses may inhibit how well you respond to this anticoagulant.