Vitamin C Buying Guide

Finding the best vitamin supplements is always a bit of a challenge. While it might seem like any vitamin C supplement is good, that’s not always the case. It will be up to you to learn about different forms of vitamin C and understand the difference between bio-available, high quality supplements and cheap supplements that aren’t actually effective. With MX Vitamin C, you can enjoy a high quality, bio-available form of vitamin C that will give you 100% natural support for your health needs. Keep reading to learn more about vitamin C, immune health, and buying supplements.

Health Benefits from MX Vitamin C

MX Vitamin C is full of health benefits that you can appreciate. Your body needs vitamin C for many different functions, and you owe it to yourself to find the best forms available. Beyond immune health and support, vitamin C can provide you with a variety of health benefits, including:

• Antioxidant support from one of the most powerful natural antioxidants, which can help your body fight free radicals and delay the signs of aging.
• Shorter duration of illnesses and infections with vitamin C supplementation
• Faster healing time for wounds
• Lowering of cholesterol in the blood to help reduce and loosen plaque buildup in the arteries
• Healthy formation of collagen to offer support against aging, rheumatic diseases, inflammation, and muscular pain
• Relief and prevention of degenerative eye diseases like macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, and other age-related vision loss
• Help in fighting urinary tract infections and many common respiratory conditions
• Reduced risk of some cancers and chronic age-related diseases
• Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease
• Prevention of periodontal disease
• Enhanced absorption of iron that is critical to the body’s health and wellbeing

These are just a handful of the best benefits of MX Vitamin C, and you can find many other things to appreciate when taking this supplement. Take the time to learn about vitamin C and all of the things that it can do for your health, because you might be impressed with what you find.

Interesting Statistics about the Common Cold

There are more than 62 million cases of the common cold in the U.S. alone each year

Children will get up to 10 colds annually

Adults will get 2-4 colds annually

People over the age of 60 will generally get less than 1 cold per year

China has almost 300 million cases of the common cold annually

India’s annual count for the common cold includes almost 250 million cases

About 75% of the cold viruses that are reported occur in people who have immune deficiencies

Why MX Vitamin C Works

MX Vitamin C works because it has been carefully formulated to be in the most bio-available form possible, which means that it is easily absorbed by the body. At Maxalife, we take the time to check out every supplement that we offer and ensure that it provides the support that the body needs to stay healthy. The ingredients in our supplements are always in their purest and freshest form and are 100% natural. Plus, you will get the benefit of buying a product that will help fill in your nutritional gaps from a company that you can know and trust when it comes to supplementation. MX Vitamin C works because:

• Vitamin C has been proven to help with immune support by providing the nutrients that your immune system needs to be strong and healthy. It also supports anti-aging and many other health processes.
• No one can have perfect health, which is why Maxalife supplements were created. MX Vitamin C can help make up for the nutrients that you are missing and give you the best chance of being as healthy as possible.
• Maxalife always studies and researches its supplements very carefully, ensuring that we combine the most effective ingredients for the best results.

Why Buy from Maxalife?

Maxalife products are always created with you in mind. Our company was founded by people who are passionate about healthy living and finding natural solutions for health issues. Every supplement that we create is made from the purest and most natural ingredients so that you get everything that you need and nothing that you don’t. Maxalife’s Vitamin C formula has been carefully created to be 100% natural, providing only the extra boost of nutrients that your body needs and nothing else.

When you buy from Maxalife, you will also enjoy our 6-month, 100% money-back guarantee. We understand that these supplements take time to work, and we’re willing to let you wait and see what happens. You will appreciate the benefits that you receive from products like MX Vitamin C over time, and if you don’t you can send them back for a full refund. You aren’t risking a thing when you buy from us because you’ll get high-quality supplements that are proven effective and a guarantee for any situation that causes you to change your mind about the products that you have purchased. When you purchase Maxalife products, you’re getting the best of everything for an affordable price, and that’s why our company is the best for natural supplements.

Purity and Freshness

MX Vitamin C and other supplements from Maxalife are created from 100% pure and natural products. We guarantee purity and freshness with all of our products, no matter what you might be looking for. Don’t just take our word for it, though. We have evidence to support our freshness and purity standards that will demonstrate just how safe and effective our supplements can be.

What Makes Maxalife MX Vitamin C So Beneficial?

Maxalife Vitamin C has been specially formulated to provide you with the maximum health benefits that come with this essential nutrient, and has been taken from the purest, most bio-available sources to ensure maximum digestion and health support. At Maxalife, we carefully study all of our ingredients and ensure that we create the 100% natural supplements that our customers need to fill in the gaps in their lifestyle. Plus, you are getting a product from a company that has a passion for excellence in natural health, combined with a 6-month guarantee on every single product that we sell. You can trust in Maxalife and the benefits of MX Vitamin C because you are getting great supplements from a company that cares about your health.

Immune Health Resources

Harvard Medical School: Immune Health

Discovery Health: How the Immune System Works

NY Times Immune Health Guide

All About the Immune System

Purity

See Notes

Freshness

See Notes

Bio-Availability

When it comes to getting the best products for natural healthcare, you hear a lot about bio-availability. This is simply the degree to which nutrients are actually absorbed by the body so that they can be used accordingly by the body. At Maxalife, we focus on offering only the best and most natural supplements so that bio-availability is at its peak.

Your body cannot get the full benefits from Vitamin C without being able to absorb all of the nutrients, which is why our MX Vitamin C is specifically formulated to offer the most natural products in their most basic form so that they are as effective and helpful to the body as possible. Some companies will sell ‘synthetic’ products claiming that they are better or will retain freshness longer, but the sheer fact of the matter is that synthetic forms of natural supplements are simply not going to be as utilized and appreciated by the body.

Nature Always Knows Best

Maxalife understands that nature knows what it is doing. We use our expertise to combine ingredients and substances that nature has created in the purest, most natural form available. Our goal is to combine the right products in the right balance to maximize health benefits and help people get the most out of life through supplementation. We don’t change what nature made because there is no improvement needed. Instead, we combine different natural ingredients to offer them in a formula that is effective and easily absorbed by the body, leading to maximum bio-availability in MX Vitamin C and all of the supplements that we offer.

Pharmaceutical Grade

MX Vitamin C might not seem like the best because you’ve heard of someone else selling ‘Pharmaceutical Grade’ Vitamin C or other supplements. You might be surprised to learn this:

There is NO such thing as a ‘pharmaceutical grade’ supplement.

Aggressive marketing has spawned this phrase and its popular use as a way to get people to invest in certain products or companies. The regulatory agencies involved in supplements around the world have no real ‘standards’ or ‘grades’ set out to monitor every single product on the market and there is no true claim that a product is ‘pharmaceutical grade’. Any company that tells you they have such a product is lying to get your business, and that’s not the kind of company that you want to work with.

Maxalife Exceeds Minimum Standards by Leaps and Bounds

Instead of trying to convince you that we sell a superior product by calling it something that it isn’t, we have worked hard to create natural, effective, high-quality supplements that are at a much higher standard than any specifications that are currently in place. The World Health Organization and U.S. FDA both have minimum expectations for supplements, but the reality is that they are so lenient and lack consistency that they are often insignificant.

Maxalife is committed to developing the purest, most natural supplements available, and you can trust that. You can check out all the information on our supplements to see just how fresh and pure they are. The reality of the situation is that Maxalife’s standards are far higher than those of the U.S. FDA or any other regulating agency because we know the value of good supplements and only want to give our customers the safest, purest, and most effective products available.

Proof Positive with Maxalife

We keep data on file for all of our testing and can gladly provide you with information from every supplement and every test to allow you to see just how serious we are about the purity and quality of our supplements here at Maxalife.

Specifications and COA

See Notes

Benefits and Clinical Studies

The benefits of Vitamin C far exceed what many people expect from this incremental vitamin. While it is known that this supplement can help fight signs of aging and improve overall health, there are many different benefits of Vitamin C that are currently being researched. These include:

Cancer prevention
Cardiovascular support
Heart disease prevention

Check out the studies below to learn more about the research surrounding vitamin C and its many health benefits.

Published Clinical Studies

Vitamin C and Vitamin E Supplement Use and Colorectal Cancer Mortality in a Large American Cancer Society Cohort

Eric J. Jacobs1, Cari J. Connell, Alpa V. Patel, Ann Chao, Carmen Rodriguez, Jennifer Seymour, Marjorie L. McCullough, Eugenia E. Calle and Michael J. Thun

Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia 30329-4251

Abstract

Some recent epidemiological studies have suggested that use of vitamin C or vitamin E supplements, both of which are important antioxidants, may substantially reduce the risk of colon or colorectal cancer. We examined the association between colorectal cancer mortality and use of individual vitamin C and E supplements in the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II cohort. We used proportional hazards modeling to estimate rate ratios among 711,891 men and women in the United States who completed a self-administered questionnaire at study enrollment in 1982, had no history of cancer, and were followed for mortality through 1996. During the 14 years of follow-up, 4404 deaths from colorectal cancer occurred. After adjustment for multiple colorectal cancer risk factors, regular use of vitamin C or E supplements, even long-term use, was not associated with colorectal cancer mortality. The combined-sex rate ratios were 0.89 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.73–1.09] for 10 or more years of vitamin C use and 1.08 (95% CI, 0.85–1.38) for 10 or more years of vitamin E use. In subgroup analyses, use of vitamin C supplements for 10 or more years was associated with decreased risk of colorectal cancer mortality before age 65 years (rate ratio = 0.48; 95% CI, 0.28–0.81) and decreased risk of rectal cancer mortality at any age (rate ratio = 0.40; 95% CI, 0.20–0.80). Our results do not support a substantial effect of vitamin C or E supplement use on overall colorectal cancer mortality.

Effect of vitamin C supplements on antioxidant defence and stress proteins in human lymphocytes and skeletal muscle

M Khassaf, A McArdle, C Esanu, A Vasilaki, F McArdle, R D Griffiths, D A Brodie* and M J Jackson

Department of Medicine, University of Liverpool
Liverpool L69 3GA, UK
*Department of Medicine, Movement Science and Physical Education, University of Liverpool
Liverpool L69 3GA, UK
M. J. Jackson: Department of Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GA, UK. Email: mjj@liv.ac.uk

Abstract

Oxidative stress induces adaptations in the expression of protective enzymes and heat shock proteins (HSPs) in a variety of tissues. We have examined the possibility that supplementation of subjects with the nutritional antioxidant, vitamin C, influences the ability of lymphocytes to express protective enzymes and HSPs following exposure to an exogenous oxidant and the response of skeletal muscle to the physiological oxidative stress that occurs during exercise in vivo. Our hypothesis was that an elevation of tissue vitamin C content would reduce oxidant-induced expression of protective enzymes and HSP content. Lymphocytes from non-supplemented subjects responded to hydrogen peroxide with increased activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase, and HSP60 and HSP70 content over 48 h. Vitamin C supplementation at a dose of 500 mg day?1 for 8 weeks was found to increase the serum vitamin C concentration by ?50 %. Lymphocytes from vitamin C-supplemented subjects had increased baseline SOD and catalase activities and an elevated HSP60 content. The SOD and catalase activities and the HSP60 and HSP70 content of lymphocytes from supplemented subjects did not increase significantly in response to hydrogen peroxide. In non-supplemented subjects, a single period of cycle ergometry was found to significantly increase the HSP70 content of the vastus lateralis. Following vitamin C supplementation, the HSP70 content of the muscle was increased at baseline with no further increase following exercise. We conclude that, in vitamin C-supplemented subjects, adaptive responses to oxidants are attenuated, but that this may reflect an increased baseline expression of potential protective systems against oxidative stress (SOD, catalase and HSPs).
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated as part of normal metabolism in mammalian cells. The majority of cellular ROS appear to be generated by mitochondria, but in phagocytic cells NAD(P)H oxidase systems additionally generate substantial amounts of ROS during activation (Halliwell & Gutteridge, 1989). Skeletal muscle generates significant amounts of oxidants during aerobic contractile activity. Exercise can increase oxygen utilisation 200-fold above resting levels in active muscle fibres (Keul et al. 1972) and it has been suggested that superoxide production increases with this large increase in oxygen flux through muscle mitochondria during exercise (Davies et al. 1982). This is supported by data from our laboratory and others indicating that skeletal muscle cells release superoxide (McArdle et al. 2001) and generate hydroxyl radicals (O'Neill et al. 1996) in the extracellular fluid during contraction. Skeletal muscle also contains nitric oxide (NO) synthases and releases NO to the extracellular fluid during contractile activity (Balon & Nadler, 1994).
Evidence from both animal and human studies indicates that many cell types adapt to increased exposure to oxidants to reduce the risk of damage to the tissue (Niwa et al. 1993; Marini et al. 1996; Jones et al. 1999; McArdle et al. 2001). Lymphocytes increase their activity of SOD, catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase in response to endogenous oxidants (Barnett et al. 1995) and an acute bout of exercise increases the activities of SOD, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and catalase in skeletal muscle of rats (Ji, 1993). Longer-term exercise training also appears to increase the activity of several antioxidant enzymes, such as SOD and CAT (Higuchi et al. 1985) or glutathione peroxidase (Ji, 1993) in muscle, although these are not consistent findings (Alessio & Goldfarb, 1988). In humans, exercise training has been reported to increase skeletal muscle SOD activities (Jenkins et al. 1984) and the activities of various protective enzymes in blood (Robertson et al. 1991).
In addition to adaptive changes in protective enzymes, oxidative and other stresses to cells are known to induce increased production of stress or heat shock proteins (HSPs). These proteins are an important component of the cellular protective response. This occurs in blood cells such as lymphocytes (Marini et al.1996), and recent data also indicate that an increase in muscle HSP content occurs following exercise in rats (Salo et al. 1991), mice (McArdle et al. 2001) and humans (Khassaf et al. 2001). HSPs act as molecular chaperones facilitating the correct folding of newly synthesised cellular proteins and translocation to cellular compartments (Fiege et al. 1996). Studies in a variety of tissues indicate that prior stimulation of the synthesis of heat shock proteins protects tissues against a variety of (normally damaging) stresses, such as ischaemic-reperfusion injury or intracellular calcium overload (Marber et al. 1995).
An increase in oral intake of vitamin C has been proposed to be potentially beneficial in reducing oxidative damage to tissues by chemical reduction of oxidant species (for recent references see Wardle, 1999; Simon et al. 2001;Thompson et al. 2001). The increasing recognition that oxidative stress induces the increased expression of protective enzymes and HSPs in tissues has prompted us to examine the relationship between vitamin C supplementation and the ability of lymphocytes to express protective enzymes and HSPs in response to exogenous oxidants. In addition, in the same subjects, we have examined the effect of vitamin C supplements on the responses of skeletal muscle to the physiological oxidative stress during exercise in vivo. Our hypothesis was that an elevation of tissue vitamin C content would reduce the oxidant-induced increase in expression of protective enzymes and HSPs in lymphocytes ex vivo and in skeletal muscle following exercise in vivo.

Long-term vitamin C supplement use and prevalence of early age-related lens opacities

PF Jacques, A Taylor, SE Hankinson, WC Willett, B Mahnken, Y Lee, K Vaid and M Lahav
Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

We designed the present study to examine the cross-sectional relation between age-related lens opacities and vitamin C supplement use over a 10-12-y period before assessment of lens status in women without diagnosed cataract or diabetes. This design avoids biased measurement of nutrient intake that results when knowledge of lens opacities influences nutrition-related behavior or its reporting. The participants were 247 Boston-area women aged 56-71 y selected from the Nurses' Health Study cohort with oversampling of women with high or low vitamin C intakes. Lens opacities were graded with the Lens Opacification Classification System II. Use of vitamin C supplements for > or = 10 y (n = 26) was associated with a 77% lower prevalence of early lens opacities (odds ratio: 0.23; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.60) at any lens site and a 83% lower prevalence of moderate lens opacities (odds ratio: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.85) at any lens site compared with women who did not use vitamin C supplements (n = 141) after adjustment for age and other potentially confounding variables. Women who consumed vitamin C supplements for < 10 y showed no evidence of a reduced prevalence of early opacities. These data, together with data from earlier experimental and epidemiologic studies, suggest that long-term consumption of vitamin C supplements may substantially reduce the development of age-related lens opacities.

Vitamin E and vitamin C supplement use and risk of all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality in older persons: the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly

KG Losonczy, TB Harris and RJ Havlik

Epidemiology, Demography and Biometry Program, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD 20892-9205, USA. klosoncz@gibbs.oit.unc.edu

We examined vitamin E and vitamin C supplement use in relation to mortality risk and whether vitamin C enhanced the effects of vitamin E in 11,178 persons aged 67-105 y who participated in the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly in 1984-1993. Participants were asked to report all nonprescription drugs currently used, including vitamin supplements. Persons were defined as users of these supplements if they reported individual vitamin E and/or vitamin C use, not part of a multivitamin. During the follow-up period there were 3490 deaths. Use of vitamin E reduced the risk of all-cause mortality [relative risk (RR) = 0.66; 95% CI: 0.53, 0.83] and risk of coronary disease mortality (RR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.84). Use of vitamin E at two points in time was also associated with reduced risk of total mortality compared with that in persons who did not use any vitamin supplements. Effects were strongest for coronary heart disease mortality (RR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.90). The RR for cancer mortality was 0.41 (95% CI: 0.15, 1.08). Simultaneous use of vitamins E and C was associated with a lower risk of total mortality (RR = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.79) and coronary mortality (RR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.87). Adjustment for alcohol use, smoking history, aspirin use, and medical conditions did not substantially alter these findings. These findings are consistent with those for younger persons and suggest protective effects of vitamin E supplements in the elderly.

Ascorbic Acid deficiency: a case report.

Solanki M, Baweja DK, Patil SS, Shivaprakash PK.

Senior resident, Unit of Pedodontic and Preventive Dentistry, Oral Health Sciences Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical and Educational Research, Chandigarh, India;, Email: smile_mishi@yahoo.com.

Abstract

Scurvy is well known since ancient times, but it is rarely seen in the developed world today owing to the discovery of its link to the dietary deficiency of ascorbic acid. It is very uncommon in the pediatric population, and is usually seen in children with severely restricted diet attributable to psychiatric or developmental disturbances. The condition presents itself by the formation of perifollicular petechiae and bruising, gingival inflammation and bleeding, and, in children, bone disease. We report a case of scurvy in a 10-year-old developmentally delayed boy who had a diet markedly deficient in vitamin Cresulting from extremely limited food choices. He presented with debilitating bone pain, inflammatory gingival disease, and perifollicular hyperkeratosis. The diagnosis was made based on clinical and radiographic findings. The importance of diet history is emphasized. We present this case with the aim to help the clinician identify scurvy and implement treatment for a potentially fatal but easily curable disease.

PMID: 22041118 [PubMed - in process]

Salinas I, Anderson SA, Wright J, Webb VL.

Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, PO Box 7060, Wellington 6242, New Zealand.

Abstract

Scuticociliates are extracellular histophagous parasites that affect farmed fish worldwide. One of the most common pathogenic species is Miamiensis avidus, a pathogen of New Zealand groper (Polyprion oxygeneios). The aim of this study was to characterise both the host (groper)-parasite (M.avidus) immune interactions and the possible protective role of dietary sodium ascorbate. Head-kidney leucocytes (HKLs) from naturally infected adult groper showed decreased respiratory burst response and peroxidase (Px) levels than healthy individuals. Infected groper also had significantly higher serum Px levels compared to controls. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) was inhibited in the head-kidney (HK) whereas MPO(+) cells were observed in the skin and muscle lesions. The inhibition of the innate immune responses was further studied in experimental infections with M.avidus, which confirmed depletion of Px inside leucocytes and marked increases in serum Px in infected individuals. Groper juveniles were fed a diet supplemented with sodium ascorbate (Vitamin C) (2g Kg(-1)) for 21 days and then challenged by subcutaneous injection or immersion exposure with live M.avidus cells. No protection was observed in the sodium ascorbate fed groper compared to the control diet following challenge by either injection or immersion. In vitro assays showed that sodium ascorbate itself results in the inhibition of Px and respiratory burst of groper HKLs, supporting the results obtained in vivo. Our results show that histophagous protozoa such as M.avidus hamper innate immune defences of fish hosts and that dietary sodium ascorbate does not protect groper against experimental infection with this parasite.

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PMID: 22040675 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Vollbracht C, Schneider B, Leendert V, Weiss G, Auerbach L, Beuth J.

University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 9/Building 35a, D-50931 Cologne, Germany. Tel: +49 2214786414, hans.beuth@uk-koeln.de.

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate under praxis conditions the safety and efficacy of intravenous (i.v.) vitamin C administration in the first postoperative year of women with breast cancer.

Patients and Methods: Epidemiological multicentre cohort study, including 15 gynaecologists and general practitioners representatively distributed in Germany. Data from 125 breast cancer patients in UICC stages IIa to IIIb were selected for the study. A total of 53 of these patients were treated with i.v. vitamin C (supplied as Pascorbin® 7.5 g) additional to standard tumour therapy for at least 4 weeks (study group) and 72 without this additional therapy (control group). Main outcome measures were efficacy in regard to outcome and severity of disease- or therapy-induced complaints during adjuvant chemo- and radiotherapy and aftercare.

Results: Comparison of control and study groups revealed that i.v. vitamin C administration resulted in a significant reduction of complaints induced by the disease and chemo-/radiotherapy, in particular of nausea, loss of appetite, fatigue, depression, sleep disorders, dizziness and haemorrhagic diathesis. After adjustment for age and baseline conditions (intensity score before adjuvant therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy), the overall intensity score of symptoms during adjuvant therapy and aftercare was nearly twice as high in the control group compared to the study group. No side-effects of the i.v. vitamin C administration were documented.

Discussion: Oxidative stress and vitamin C deficiency play an important role in the etiology of adverse effects of guideline-based adjuvant chemo-/radiotherapy. Restoring antioxidative capacity by complementary i.v. vitamin C administration helps to prevent or reduce disease-, or therapy-induced complaints in breast cancer patients.

Conclusion: Complementary treatment of breast cancer patients with i.v. vitamin C was shown to be a well tolerated optimization of standard tumour-destructive therapies, reducing quality of life-related side-effects.

PMID: 22021693 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]