Last modified on May 24th, 2023
Buffered vitamin C is one of the most popular supplements right now. It’s a form of vitamin C that’s highly absorbable and also contains buffering minerals which are calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid. It’s something your body requires to form cartilage, muscle, collagen, and blood vessels. It helps your body heal, and it’s an antioxidant.
Antioxidants protect your cells against free radicals. Free radicals are the molecules produced by your body when you’re digesting food or when you’re exposed to harmful elements in the environment like X-rays or radiation from the sun. Free radicals are thought to play a role in many chronic illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. Vitamin C also helps you absorb and then store iron.
Your body doesn’t produce vitamin C, so you either need it from our diet or a supplement. You may be especially at risk of having a vitamin C deficiency if you don’t have a varied diet, including a lot of fruits and vegetables, or you have certain gastrointestinal conditions.
Some of the benefits of vitamin C include:
- Getting enough vitamin C from your diet or a supplement may lower your risk of developing a chronic disease. Since vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, it can boost your immune system and protect your cells from free radicals. When free radicals are left unchecked, they create oxidative stress, which is a major contributor to chronic disease. Research shows that if you include more vitamin C in your diet, you can increase your blood antioxidant levels by up to 30%, so you can naturally fight inflammation.
- Vitamin C has been found in studies to help lower blood pressure. It can relax blood vessels that transport blood from the heart, which is one way it can help with high blood pressure.
- Vitamin C may reduce the risk factors for heart disease, which is a leading cause of death throughout the world.
- Either getting it through your diet or taking a supplement may help reduce uric acid in your blood, preventing gout.
- If you’re anemic, a vitamin C supplement can be very important for you. It improves iron absorption from the food you eat and your supplements. It can help with poorly absorbed sources of iron from plant-based foods. Having 100 mg of vitamin C can increase iron absorption by as much as 67%.
- One of the top reasons people take vitamin C supplements is to improve their immune systems. Vitamin C encourages your body to make lymphocytes and phagocytes, which are white blood cells that protect you against infection. Vitamin C also helps white blood cells work effectively.
- Oxidative stress and inflammation of the brain are linked to memory and thinking problems, and getting enough vitamin C as you age can prevent dementia and similar conditions.
While there’s less evidence so far, there are other claims that you may hear about vitamin C, such as the fact that it can reduce your cancer risk, it may reduce the risk of developing eye conditions and it can help the body detox from heavy metal exposure.
With those benefits in mind, there are a lot of types of vitamin C supplements. One of the most effective in many ways is buffered vitamin C. Below, we give you 7 important facts about a buffered vitamin C supplement.
1. What is Buffered Vitamin C?
Buffered vitamin C usually comes in powder form. It combines a very absorbable form of vitamin C with certain minerals, which are calcium, potassium, and magnesium. These are known as buffering minerals.
2. Buffered Vitamin C is Good If You Have a Sensitive Stomach
While vitamin C is generally considered safe and effective in supplement form, that doesn’t mean some people won’t experience side effects. If you take high doses of vitamin C, you may experience side effects including:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Stomach cramps
- Bloating
In some people, taking oral vitamin C supplements can also cause kidney stones.
Most of these side effects are rare and only occur in people taking more than 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C a day. At the same time, you may want to take a high dose of vitamin C because that seems to offer some of the most significant benefits.
Taking a buffered vitamin C can help alleviate the risk of these symptoms, and you can still take high doses of the supplement. The buffered minerals help the body absorb vitamin C without gastrointestinal symptoms.
3. It’s More Potent
Buffered vitamin C, which often comes in powder form to be mixed with water, is more potent than a lot of other types of C supplements. The only thing that might be more potent is liposomal vitamin C. When you take buffered vitamin C powder, it has high antioxidant capabilities, and you’re getting the full benefit and value of the supplement.
4. Many People Are Deficient in the Buffering Minerals
There are benefits in taking buffered vitamin C because it also has magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Many of us are deficient in these, so you can get multiple benefits with a buffered vitamin C supplement.
5. It Has an Alkalizing Effect
Our Standard American Diet often includes foods that are acidic, forming in our bodies like processed foods, simple sugars and low-quality meat. Calcium, potassium and magnesium are alkalizing and may reduce acidity, which is important for overall health and wellness.
Also, since the minerals included in buffered vitamin C reduce its acidity, it’s again gentle on the gut even when you take high doses.
You might have heard claims being made about alkaline water, for example. There’s some evidence to suggest when you regulate your body’s pH level, it can help prevent chronic illnesses like cancer and slow down the aging process.
6. Buffered Vitamin C Can Support Healthy Skin
Most of us are looking for healthier and more glowing skin, but we don’t realize what an impact vitamin C can have. When you have adequate levels of vitamin C, your skin is protected from free radicals that cause damage like pollution and the sun. Vitamin C also helps in the formation of collagen.
7. This Type of Vitamin C Supplement Tends to Be Very Pure
We’re often concerned about consuming additives, preservatives, and extra ingredients when we take supplements. One of the many benefits of vitamin C buffered is that the result tends to be a really pure product with no extra fillers.
Ashley Sutphin Watkins
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