Emergen-c better than pill vitamin?

[Greg Bernhardt]

This and similar products have been around for awhile. They claim it's better than a pill vitamin because it's more water soluble. It's a powder you mix into water. I drink it mostly because I like the taste. Is it true this is a more effective way of "taking a vitamin"?

http://www.emergenc.com/

 

[Moonbear]

It's way more vitamin C than you will ever need. Though, it also has several B vitamins in it, and B vitamins are good for boosting energy. For the vitamin C, you can get your daily requirements with a glass of orange juice, which is 1/10th of what EmergenC contains. You wouldn't get much B vitamins from OJ though.

It has some sugar in it. I don't think it makes a difference if you use this or take a vitamin pill. If you think you aren't getting quite enough vitamins from your diet, and are more likely to remember to drink this stuff as take a pill, nothing jumps out as bad about it. Not what it's hyped up to be, and you won't need to drink it 3 or 4 times a day as the site recommends...one would be enough, but nothing harmful there either.

If it tastes good, it's better than soda or those fruit juices with nothing but sugar and minimal nutrients.

 

[ToyKiller]

but remember, Everything in high enough quantities can be toxic.

Enough water can kill you. don't let the whole 'water soluble' thing debunk you. it is possible, incredibly tough, but possible, to over dose on Vitamin C.

Please Please read the label and follow their recommendation.

 

[Pythagorean]

It's way more vitamin C than you will ever need. Though, it also has several B vitamins in it, and B vitamins are good for boosting energy. For the vitamin C, you can get your daily requirements with a glass of orange juice, which is 1/10th of what EmergenC contains. You wouldn't get much B vitamins from OJ though.

It has some sugar in it. I don't think it makes a difference if you use this or take a vitamin pill. If you think you aren't getting quite enough vitamins from your diet, and are more likely to remember to drink this stuff as take a pill, nothing jumps out as bad about it. Not what it's hyped up to be, and you won't need to drink it 3 or 4 times a day as the site recommends...one would be enough, but nothing harmful there either.

If it tastes good, it's better than soda or those fruit juices with nothing but sugar and minimal nutrients.

Isn't that good for when you're sick though? To hose down your insides with liquid Vitamin C and shock-kill the invaders? That's what the folk lore says Emergen-C is for.

 

[awri]

Isn't that good for when you're sick though? To hose down your insides with liquid Vitamin C and shock-kill the invaders? That's what the folk lore says Emergen-C is for.

I may be crazy, but I don't believe that is how the human immune system works. You're body will only use a certain amount of nutrient per unit of time (probably more when you are sick), thus taking in any more than that amount is useless with exception to the placebo effect. And the placebo effect can actually be quite powerful. So if I guess take as much as you can, if you "TRUELY" believe it makes your body stronger.

 

[zomgwtf]

@Pythagorean It depends on your fitness level. For the average joe taking vitamin-C has not been shown to decrease chances or duration of colds. However in more athletic people it significantly reduces the odds of getting a cold.

1,000 mg of vitamin-C in my opinion is an ok amount for a full day... there's nothing wrong with it at all. High levels of vitamin-C has been shown to reduce incidences of certain diseases. The main concern when those 'nutritional guides' are published is mainly reducing the odds of getting scurvy. While the suggested amount certainly will reduce the odds of this occurring (basically eliminate it actually) that doesn't mean that taking more is 'bad' for you. In fact taking more known as 'megadosing' has been suggested to lead to a better overall health. There's not a lot of published material on this though and what has been published leads me to believe that it decreases chances of just a few diseases... not particularly ones that you would have to be worried about taking normal dosages of vitamin-C.

@toykiller vitamin-C is very low in toxicity. It's virtually impossible to die from vitamin-C overdose. For instance the lethal median dose for rats is just under 12g taken orally. That's a LOT of vitamin-C for those little critters. Vitamin-B6 is toxic to humans however but the amount that is in this isn't jumping at me as dangerous. Even if you take multiple dosages per day, unless you took it all at once. Vitamin B12 is in the same category as vitamin-C, in fact I believe it's even less toxic to humans. Nothing to worry about.

@Greg I don't really see anything which would leap out at me suggesting it's better than a vitamin pill. Maybe the fact that it would be faster acting (assuming it's for a boost of energy) but that's about it. I would suggest like moonbear has though to not take the suggested amount. I would personally stick to maybe 1-2 a day. Probably 1 when I woke up and perhaps one later on in the day, no more than that though it wouldn't really be necessary. I assume you have a healthy diet :tongue:. One reason I would suggest taking the drink vs. taking the pill is that a) you think it tastes good and b) pills can have adverse indigestion effects which I don't think would happen, or at least not as often, in a liquid form. That's about it though. Just make sure they are spread out and not right at once.

If you ever start feeling numbness or weakness you should probably discontinue for awhile and if you decide to take it again lower the dosages you take. That's the toxic effect of vitamin-B6 in high dosages (around 1000mg normally in rare cases it can happen at around half of that).