One of our clients asked recently how their oral vitamin C compares to IV Vitamin C absorption and whether they should continue to take it? The short answer is yes, they can continue their daily supplements as this gives them small amounts of the vitamin daily. But how much do they get oral versus IV came up and is worth discussing. The example below is an estimate but should help give you an idea of the big picture of the bioavailability of oral versus IV nutrients.
The typical oral dose of Vitamin C is 500-1000mg daily although people take anywhere from 250mg up to 2-3 grams per day. The typical limiting factors on how much you take care that you only absorb so much and end up excreting out a lot of it and side effects like nausea, stomach cramps, and diarrhea can show up with higher doses. If we assume that 20% of a 1000mg Vitamin C oral dose taken is absorbed (again, a bit of an assumption and may actually be on the high side) you would get around 200mg of bioavailable Vitamin C daily.
By contrast, we use 5 grams (5,000mg) of Vitamin C in our Super Immune Boost IV drip and around 90% is absorbed. That would be 4,500mg absorbed and available for your cells with each dose. Now you’d have to take 22.5 grams (22,500mg) orally to get that much absorbed which is like a hundred tablets!
As you can imagine, 100 tablets would not work and likely you’d end up with severe stomach distress to include nausea, vomiting, & diarrhea. What this ultimately means is that IV Vitamin C is at much higher doses and much more is available for the cells to use which in the end we believe helps boost white cell function for fighting the disease as well provides a much greater antioxidant effect.
If you’re interested in learning more about our super immune booster IV with vitamin C, give us a call, or contact us here!
