What happens if you eat a lot of ascorbic acids?
Ascorbic acid is vitamin C with glucose. Depending on the manufacturer, these can be yellow dragee balls containing 50 mg of ascorbic acid, or large sweet tablets with 10–25 mg. In the latter, such a small amount of vitamin accounts for about 3 g of glucose – essentially, these are candies.
There are supplements with a dosage of 500, 1,000, 2,000 mg of acid and more, but they can hardly be called ascorbic acid.
How many ascorbic acids can you eat per day?
It all depends on gender and age. There is a recommended preventive maximum daily dose of vitamin C for everyone.
| How much ascorbic acid is recommended to eat per day? | How many yellow tablets per day do manufacturers recommend? | How much vitamin C can you eat per day maximum? | How many yellow jelly beans are these? | |
| Children from one to 3 years old | 15 mg | — | 400 mg | 8 |
| Children 4–8 years old | 25 mg | 1 | 650 mg | 13 |
| Children 9–13 years old | 45 mg | 1 | 1,200 mg | 24 |
| Girls 14–18 years old | 65 mg | 1 | 1,800 mg | 36 |
| Guys 14–18 years old | 75 mg | 1 | 1,800 mg | 36 |
| Women over 19 years old | 75 mg | 1–2 | 2,000 mg | 40 |
| Pregnant women (19 years and older) | 85 mg | 1–2 | 2,000 mg | 40 |
| Nursing (19 years and older) | 120 mg | 1–2 | 2,000 mg | 40 |
| Men over 19 years old | 90 mg | 1–2 | 2,000 mg | 40 |
Ekaterina Leontyeva
Pediatrician, gastroenterologist at the Rassvet clinic.
Children under one year old do not need additional sources of vitamin C – they get everything from breast milk or formula.
A healthy adult can eat a maximum of 2,000 mg of vitamin C per day – this dose is considered safe. That’s about 40 yellow jelly beans.
But, as we have already written, ascorbic acid contains not only vitamin C, but also glucose, that is, sugar. And it is undesirable to eat more than 30 g of sugar per day, that is, more than 10 white tablets.
What happens if you eat a lot of ascorbic acids?
If more than 3,000 mg is taken, an adult, especially one with kidney problems or iron absorption disorders, will experience overdose symptoms such as heartburn, vomiting, diarrhea and headache. In general, excess vitamin C is fraught with an imbalance of antioxidants, kidney stones , and in people with certain blood diseases – iron overload.
But it’s still quite difficult to overeat ascorbic acid: with its excess, the intestines’ ability to absorb it decreases – this happens after about 1,000 mg. So, most likely, nothing will happen. And it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to eat 60 yellow jelly beans without noticing.
Ekaterina Leontyeva
For a child to overdose, a smaller dose is enough. But even if it is exceeded once, there will be no serious side effects. Most often, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and/or diarrhea may occur. But ascorbic acid, like any other medicines, should be kept away from small children, not only because of a possible overdose, but also because of the risk of aspiration and suffocation.
White large ascorbic acids are unlikely to lead to an overdose (even more of them are needed). But it’s also better not to abuse them, because eating a lot of sweets is harmful .
What to do if you eat a lot of ascorbic acid
Vitamin C overdose is a very rare condition. Therefore, there are no special recommendations.
You definitely need to stop taking the pills, perhaps drink more fluids to flush out the excess faster, and see a doctor if you feel worse.