Let me tell you a story about survival—one that begins 400,000 years ago. Picture a hunter, bruised, exhausted, and stressed after tracking prey for days, chewing on raw adrenal glands from his kill. Unknowingly, he was doing something brilliant.
In most animals, the adrenal glands are where vitamin C is concentrated—like a little storage vault. For example, in rats (which, unlike us, can make their own vitamin C), the adrenal glands can contain up to 100 times more vitamin C than the blood plasma. The hunter was, therefore, loading up on vitamin C to heal his wounds, calm his stress, and restore his body's resilience.
Fast forward to today, and we’ve somehow convinced ourselves that a measly 40 to 80mg, from half an orange, with some broccoli—is enough. How did we get this so wrong?
The Genetic Hand We Were Dealt
We’re the genetic losers of the animal kingdom. Unlike nearly every other mammal on Earth, humans can’t produce their own vitamin C. A single mutation in our GULO gene, 61 million years ago, left us forever dependent on what we eat.
Our Palaeolithic ancestors understood this instinctively, as their diets packed a whopping 400-500mg daily from berries, raw greens, and yes, even organ meats.
Modern science confirms what our bodies have known all along: 40mg just stops your gums from bleeding. It doesn’t let you thrive. If you delve into The US National Institute of Health quietly admits this in their technical documents, while official recommendations stay frozen in time.
Stress: Then vs. Now—The Silent Vitamin C Thief
Imagine two scenarios:
Palaeolithic Stress: A hunter sprains his ankle. His body burns through vitamin C to:
• Reduce inflammation
• Repair collagen in tendons
• Lower cortisol from the trauma
Modern Stress: You’re sitting in traffic, already late for a meeting. The engine fuel light’s on. Your phone’s pinging. You haven’t eaten properly all day. Your body? It’s quietly burning through vitamin C to:
• Process cortisol flooding from stress
• Repair cells damaged by air pollution and processed food
• Fight oxidative damage from lack of sleep, screens, and mental overload
Here’s the alarming part: chronic stress—the modern-day, relentless kind: deadlines, financial worries, polluted air, lack of sleep, ultra-processed diets, constant social and digital media interruption, could be considered even worse than the sudden dangers our ancestors faced. At least they had time to recover. Today, it’s a constant grind. Our minds and bodies never get a break.
The Great Vitamin C Heist
Let’s not sugarcoat it—it comes as no surprise that modern life has been quietly stripping vitamin C from our plates, leaving us scraping by on the bare minimum. And the numbers are sobering.
• A 2022 study comparing modern crops with those from the 1950s found that today’s oranges contain 30% less vitamin C than they did 70 years ago (1). And it’s not just oranges—apples, potatoes, and leafy greens have all shown nutrient declines. This isn’t just a fluke; it’s the result of decades of farming practices prioritising yield and shelf life over nutrient density.
• A comprehensive analysis in 2004 found that across 43 garden crops, vitamin C content had dropped by an average of 20% between 1950 and 1999 (2). In other words, the spinach you’re eating today isn’t the powerhouse your grandparents enjoyed.
• And even if you’re eating “healthy”—cooking can rob you blind. Studies show that boiling vegetables destroys up to 60% of vitamin C, and even steaming can cut levels by 30% (3). Vitamin C is fragile—heat, light, and oxygen degrade it fast
• Let’s talk about food storage and transport. Fresh produce today can sit in warehouses or on supermarket shelves for days, sometimes weeks, before it reaches your plate. Research shows that after seven days in storage, vegetables like spinach and broccoli can lose over 50% of their vitamin C content (4).
• Then there’s the Western diet—heavily processed, sugar-laden, and full of empty calories. Surveys like the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey reveal that the average intake of vitamin C in adults is just 70-90mg daily (5). That’s enough to avoid scurvy, sure, but nowhere near the levels linked to optimal health—the vibrant, thriving kind our ancestors enjoyed.
• And if you think you’re getting enough from your “5-a-day,” think again. A 2019 study by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) found that only 12% of European adults meet the recommended fruit and vegetable intake—and even those who do may not hit their vitamin C targets due to these nutrient losses (6).
What Science Says We Really Need
Now let’s get down to the real vitamin C needs: how much vitamin C do you actually need for optimal health and for different benefits?
• Cardiovascular Health (Arteries, Blood Pressure, Heart Function): Studies suggest around 500mg daily supports endothelial function, helps reduce arterial stiffness, and lowers blood pressure (3,4).
• Skin Health and Collagen Production: Around 200-500mg daily is shown to promote healthy collagen synthesis, reduce wrinkles, and improve skin elasticity (5,6).
• Joint Health and Wound Healing: For connective tissue repair and post-exercise recovery, studies recommend at least 500-1000mg daily (7,8).
• Immune Function: Baseline immune support? 200mg daily is a good start. But when fighting infection or under stress, your needs skyrocket to 1000-2000mg daily (9,10).
• Stress Resilience: Chronic stress can drain vitamin C stores. Research shows 500-1000mg daily may help modulate cortisol and reduce oxidative stress (11,12).
Yet despite all this, government guidelines for vitamin intake remain stuck in the past—based on 1940s studies of British sailors trying not to die of scurvy. The same goes for Vitamin D: the UK’s NHS recommends 400-800 IU per day for adults, yet countless studies suggest 2000-3000 IU daily is a much better target for supporting bone health, immunity, mood, and inflammation (1). And yet, the official guidelines? Still based on post-war Britain—when food rationing was the norm and no one was talking about optimal health. They just wanted people to survive.
So Why Do Governments Set the Levels So Low?
- They set guidelines for the “average” person—not for individuals. NRVs are designed to meet the basic needs of a person under normal conditions, not someone who’s stressed, recovering from illness, exercising hard, living in a polluted area, or eating nutrient-depleted food.
- Politics and inertia. Updating guidelines is painfully slow. It takes years of review, political will, and a mountain of red tape. The system is designed to err on the side of caution—governments won’t recommend anything unless they’re 100% sure, even when new research points to better outcomes.
- The focus is on preventing deficiency, not optimising health. NRVs are designed to stop diseases like scurvy, not to help you thrive. It’s like treading water just to keep from drowning, rather than swimming forward with strength and energy.
Not sure whether this is true? Head to the nhs.uk site and search for Vitamin C. Halfway down the page, it clearly states: “Lack of vitamin C can lead to scurvy.” In 2022, 188 people were treated for scurvy in English hospitals—a threefold increase from the 61 cases in 2008. This rise in scurvy cases is part of a broader surge in hospital admissions for nutritional deficiencies: over 800,000 admissions were reported in 2022-23. Could Vitamin C deficiency be playing a major part in these admissions? Absolutely.
Because scurvy is just the tip of the iceberg.
The real danger of Vitamin C deficiency is systemic breakdown, where your:
- Tissues fall apart
- Blood vessels leak
- Immune system fails
- Heart muscle weakens
- Body can’t repair itself
But what about insufficiency—when you’re not fully deficient, but you’re just not getting enough? That’s when things start to creep in quietly:
- Fatigue that won’t shift
- Slow-healing wounds
- Low-grade inflammation bubbling under the surface
- Weaker immunity—getting colds more often or taking longer to recover
- Skin that bruises easily, feels less firm, or starts to sag
- Gum problems, bleeding when you brush
It’s Not Just About Avoiding Scurvy
Let’s get one thing straight: it’s not just about stopping your gums from bleeding or keeping scurvy at bay. It’s about giving your body the tools it needs to thrive, not just survive.
In today’s world of endless stress, pollution, processed food, and nutrient-depleted soil, we’re miles away from how our ancestors nourished themselves. They didn’t just get “enough” Vitamin C—they consumed a much broader range of nutrient-dense plants than we do today, including fibrous wild greens, roots, herbs, berries, and fruits.
That said, they didn’t have supermarkets or fridges providing easy access to Vitamin C-rich foods all year round. Fruits and berries were seasonal, and there would have been times of scarcity—especially in colder months or harsher climates.
They were clever, though. They foraged, ate whole plants, skins, pith, seeds and all, and likely consumed some naturally fermented or overripe foods when available. Deliberate fermentation only came later with the rise of farming cultures.
Were they hitting 400-500mg of Vitamin C every single day? Probably not. They thrived during times of abundance and survived when fresh produce was scarce. It wasn’t ideal—they scraped by, and sometimes, they didn’t.
The difference today? We have the chance to do better. We have year-round access to fresh produce, high-quality supplements, and the knowledge to optimise our health in ways our ancestors could never have imagined.
I send this message to you and our government 'It’s not about survival anymore. It’s about giving our body the best chance to thrive.'
How to Hack Your Modern Vitamin C Needs
So, what can you do?
First, eat like the land is wild again—or at least a bit closer to how our ancestors did:
- Don't overcook your vegetables, lightly steam them is best
- Choose fresh and in season UK vegetables
- Try watercress, kale, or rocket in your salads—dark leafy greens are sneakily good sources
- Know your fruit and veg vitamin C content and choose high vitamin C content in your 5-a-day
Bonus tip: Don’t over peel everything—there’s goodness in that skin and pith!
The Reality Check
The reality is, most of us don’t have the time, the budget, or the headspace to plan perfect meals every day. It’s just not as easy as the nutrition experts make out. Across Europe, only 12% of people hit their 5-a-day target.
What does a 5-a-day target even mean for Vitamin C?
If you eat:
- 28mg Vitamin C – Apple (8mg) + Banana (10mg) + Pear (5mg) + Small Cucumber (3mg) + Iceberg Lettuce (2mg)
- 141mg Vitamin C – Small Orange (70mg) + Banana (10mg) + Apple (8mg) + ½ Cup Cooked Broccoli (51mg) + ½ Cup Carrots (2mg)
- 336mg Vitamin C – ½ Red Bell Pepper (95mg) + Orange (70mg) + ½ Cup Strawberries (49mg) + ½ Cup Broccoli (51mg) + Kiwi (71mg)
Without kiwis, bell peppers, strawberries, and vegetables you have identified as being high in Vitamin C, chances are you’ll fall short of even a basic 200mg daily target.
Smart Nutritional Support
Absolutely—get your whole food plan in place. Food gives you far more than just Vitamin C. But if you’re like the majority of us—unsure if you’re consistently hitting your daily target, there’s nothing wrong with hedging your bets with a supplement.
Here’s the crucial bit: it’s all about absorption.
Take standard ascorbic acid—you might absorb around 70% up to 200mg under ideal digestion conditions. But, digestion isn’t always a foregone conclusion. Stress, ageing, alcohol, smoking, gut issues, or medications can all reduce absorption. Swallow 1000mg, and you might absorb less than a fifth, the rest goes down the toilet.
That’s why quality and delivery method matter just as much as quantity when it comes to Vitamin C.
Liposomal Vitamin C is a game-changer. Studies show absorption rates of up to 95%, with bioavailability up to ten times higher than standard Vitamin C. Buffered forms like sodium or calcium ascorbate are also gentler on the stomach than pure ascorbic acid.
With liposomal Vitamin C, you don’t necessarily need 1000mg. There’s no harm in taking it, as our body will flush what it doesn’t need. 500mg a day is therefore a solid, effective daily boost.
Bonus tip: you achieve better vitamin C health benefits from taking 250-500mg twice a day than from mega-dosing once a day.
The Bitter Pill
We’ve been sold the idea that “minimum requirements” equal optimal health. They don’t.
Our ancestors’ 400-500mg daily intake wasn’t arbitrary—it was a biological necessity. And in today’s modern world, with all its extra challenges, we probably need even more.
The government shouldn’t just be promoting minimum, disease-preventing levels. They should be providing both—a basic reference value for survival and an optimal nutrient reference value (ONRV) for thriving.
So next time you read about “5-a-day” being enough, or see headlines saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, or get told to “just eat a balanced diet”, remember this: our ancestors ate the whole plant—peel, pulp, seeds—and still sought out Vitamin C-rich fruits, berries, and even animal organs.
They understood what we’ve largely forgotten: survival isn’t the same as vibrant living.
The question isn’t whether you need more Vitamin C. It’s whether you’re brave enough to admit how far we’ve strayed from what our bodies truly require.
So what will you choose: scurvy prevention, or actual thriving?
Check your intake, boost your diet, go buy some Kiwi's and some Liposomal Vitamin C, make it a daily non-negotiable.
References:
1. Nutrient Decline in Crops Link
2. Nutritional Impact of Cooking Methods Link
3. Effect of Vitamin C on Endothelial Function Link
4. Vitamin C and Blood Pressure Link
5. Dose-dependent vitamin C uptake and radical scavenging activity in human skin Link
6. The Roles of Vitamin C in Skin Health Link
7. Vitamin C for Connective Tissue Repair Link
8. Reduced pain from osteoarthritis in hip joint or knee Link
9. Vitamin C and Respiratory Infections: A Systematic Review Link
10. Vitamin C and Immune Function Link
11. High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy for Stress Link
12. The Effect of Vitamin C on Stress-Induced Oxidative Damage. Link
13. Absorption Efficiency of Liposomal Vitamin C Link
14. Vitamin C Pharmacokinetics in Healthy Humans Link
