Vitamin C RDA Increase Could Help Reduce Heart Disease, Stroke, Cancer

The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin C is less than half what it should be, scientists argue in a recent report published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. Researchers said that there is compelling evidence that the RDA of vitamin C should be raised to 200 mg/day for adults, up from its current levels in the United States of 75 mg for women and 90 mg for men.

Rather than just prevent the vitamin C deficiency disease of scurvy, said researchers, it's appropriate to seek optimum levels that will saturate cells and tissues, pose no risk and may have significant effects on public health at almost no expense--about a penny a day if taken as a dietary supplement. More