ascorbic acid
7 interactions related to ascorbic acid
smoking + vitamin c
Smoking increases oxidative stress and accelerates the body's turnover of vitamin C, leaving smokers with consistently lower blood and tissue levels of ascorbic acid than non-smokers eating the same diet. Because of this, expert nutrition bodies recommend that people who smoke aim for a higher daily vitamin C intake than non-smokers.
glutathione + vitamin c
Glutathione and vitamin C participate in the same cellular antioxidant network and help regenerate one another. When vitamin C is oxidised to dehydroascorbate, glutathione donates electrons to convert it back to active ascorbate; in turn, vitamin C helps keep glutathione in its active reduced form. The two are commonly supplemented together and the combination is well tolerated, though clinical benefit beyond the established biochemistry is modest and not consistently proven.
nac + vitamin c
NAC and vitamin C touch the same antioxidant network on paper, but the human evidence for taking them together is mixed: a controlled trial found the combination raised oxidative stress and tissue-damage markers after acute muscle injury rather than protecting against them.
collagen + vitamin c
Vitamin C is a required cofactor for prolyl and lysyl hydroxylase, the enzymes that hydroxylate proline and lysine residues during collagen synthesis and stabilize the triple-helix structure. Taking collagen peptides (or gelatin) together with a source of vitamin C supplies both the amino acid building blocks and the enzymatic cofactor the body needs to assemble functional new collagen. This is a benign nutritional synergy, not a risk.
vitamin c + glucose meter
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a strong reducing agent that can interfere with the chemistry used by many fingerstick and bedside glucose meters, producing falsely high blood glucose readings. This is most likely with high-dose oral or intravenous vitamin C. Published case reports describe patients on high-dose IV vitamin C being misdiagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis and given inappropriate insulin, leading to dangerous hypoglycemia.
vitamin c + stool occult blood test
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a reducing agent that can block the guaiac peroxidase color reaction used in traditional guaiac-based fecal occult blood tests (gFOBT, including Hemoccult). This can produce a falsely negative result even when gastrointestinal bleeding is present, potentially masking a bleeding source. Newer fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) use antibodies to detect human hemoglobin and are not affected.
whey protein + iron
Whey protein is usually consumed alongside calcium-rich milk minerals, and calcium competes with iron for absorption in the gut. When taken at the same time, a whey-plus-iron serving can modestly lower how much iron you absorb. The effect is largely driven by calcium, is generally modest, and is easily offset by taking a vitamin C source with your iron.