Diabetic & Vitamin C Pills

QUESTION: I am a diabetic. Please advise whether I can take vitamin C pills instead of taking fruits (eg oranges which contain alot of sugar) to supplement my daily vitamin C intake.

Also, advise whether vitamin C pills contain sugar content.

Thanks very much.

ANSWER: Hi there,

At first, I want to inform you that the fruits are not the only foods high in Vitamin C. So, you can replace the citrus fruits, like lemon or orange, with broccoli, currant, sprout, tomatoes and cabbage, which also are rich in vitamin C.

It would be great for you to insert these vegetables in your diabetic daily meal plan. In this way, you will reduce the intake of sugar, because the mentioned vegetables are containing so much glucose as the citrus fruits.

Regarding your question if you can replace the natural Vitamin C intake with supplements, like Vitamin C pills for example; I would say that this is not a great idea, because the natural intake of vitamins is something irreplaceable.

In other words, every food contains certain vitamins and minerals and if you exclude all the foods, which are providing Vitamin C for your body, you will cut off the supply of certain other important vitamins and mineral.

Besides this, every tablet have several components - active substance, binder, cellulose and others.

It is true that their active substance is Vitamin C; however, in most cases saccharides (dangerous substances similar to glucose) are

usually used as binders.

So, as you can see by yourself, the Vitamin C pills contain glucose-like molecules, which may elevate your blood glucose level and harm your body at the same time.

At the end, I would suggest a "simple and healthy" solution that will fullfil your daily needs for vitamin C, but it will not lead to blood glucose elevation:

First, try to put the above-mentioned vegetables in your meal plan and try to minimize the intake of citrus fruits.

For example, you can eat citrus fruits once a week, but you have to eat at least one of the vegetables mentioned above at least 4 times a week.

Second thing is to start using Vitamin C supplements in a daily dosage not more than 250 mg. The maximum dose of 250 mg is important because of:

the sugar-like molecules in the pills and

the Vitamin C’s side effects.

Please keep in mind that the excessive Vitamin C usage leads to kidney stones, diarrhea and others.

In addition, I have to inform you that there is a theory that the excessive consumption of Vitamin C the DNA molecule, which can lead to cancer growth.

Hope it helped!

Dr.Alba

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