Vitamin C increases recovery time?

[dashforce]

I read a while ago in Men's Health that a study showed that intake of Vitamin C in excess of 1 g / day actually increased recovery time. I've just found this study that seems to support that. Any comments?

http://plaza.ufl.edu/cleeuwen/April.PDF

[Ignoramus]

Post deleted by Ignoramus

[dashforce]

I'm not sure that I see your logic. If vitamin C is an antioxidant, it should help remedy oxidative stress. If you looked at the study, you might have seen that markers indicating oxidative stress were elevated, meaning that vitamin C (presumably) exacerbated the problem.

[ QUOTE ]
so it would be reasonable to correlate increased vitamin c supplementation with increased recovery time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see how this is reasonable. I would think that an antioxidant would help decrease recovery time, meaning that you would recover more quickly (less time) than otherwise (relatively increased recovery time). Recovery time and recovery rate are opposites.

[Ignoramus]

sorry man, totally misread your initial post. read/wrote "increase" as "decrease".

[dashforce]

Yeah, I figured so. Felt weird typing it the first time, too. Thanks for the reply though.

[ryancostill]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure that I see your logic. If vitamin C is an antioxidant, it should help remedy oxidative stress. If you looked at the study, you might have seen that markers indicating oxidative stress were elevated, meaning that vitamin C (presumably) exacerbated the problem.


[/ QUOTE ]

I dont know what specific study you are referring to (the above post is deleted) but I have heard of Vitamin C having a PRO-OXIDATIVE effect (a negative effect on free radicals) when used in higher doses. It appears to me that the response is dose dependent and can illicit either an anti-oxidant or pro-oxidant effect.

[dashforce]

The study is hyperlinked in my original post, not the post deleted by Ignoramus.

Here's the abstract, in case you have problems accessing the file:
[ QUOTE ]
Abstract—There has been no investigation to determine if the widely used over-the-counter, water-soluble antioxidants
vitamin C and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) could act as pro-oxidants in humans during inflammatory conditions. We
induced an acute-phase inflammatory response by an eccentric arm muscle injury. The inflammation was characterized
by edema, swelling, pain, and increases in plasma inflammatory indicators, myeloperoxidase and interleukin-6.
Immediately following the injury, subjects consumed a placebo or vitamin C (12.5 mg/kg body weight) and NAC (10
mg/kg body weight) for 7 d. The resulting muscle injury caused increased levels of serum bleomycin-detectable iron and
the amount of iron was higher in the vitamin C and NAC group. The concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH),
creatine kinase (CK), and myoglobin were significantly elevated 2, 3, and 4 d postinjury and returned to baseline levels
by day 7. In addition, LDH and CK activities were elevated to a greater extent in the vitamin C and NAC group. Levels
of markers for oxidative stress (lipid hydroperoxides and 8-iso prostaglandin F2a; 8-Iso-PGF2a) and antioxidant enzyme
activities were also elevated post-injury. The subjects receiving vitamin C and NAC had higher levels of lipid
hydroperoxides and 8-Iso-PGF2a 2 d after the exercise. This acute human inflammatory model strongly suggests that
vitamin C and NAC supplementation immediately post-injury, transiently increases tissue damage and oxidative
stress. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc.

[/ QUOTE ]

12.5mg/kg bodyweight? That's only like 1 gram! I take 3g/day of ester-C -- that's almost 40 mg/kg bodyweight! Am I sabotaging my recovery time/results?

[D1ez]

I supplement with 3.5g of vitamin C a day, I really hope this isn't causing any negative effects..

[Fandango]

this is interesting.. so a normal amount of Vitamin C will help to keep you from getting sick (so I hear), but having too much will sabotage gains? im interested to see how this one plays out

[D1ez]

I read an article today supplementing with 3-5 grams of vitamin C will help reduce recovery time.. but this study seems more formal