Review of Viva Labs Vitamin C, 1000mg, 250 Vegetarian Capsules

Viva Labs Vitamin C is not the first Vitamin C supplement I've tried. I've been supplementing with Vitamin C off and on for a long time. Why off and on instead of consistently? Here are my reasons why, and if one or more does not apply to you, then you may need regular supplementation:

• It's already in the multivitamin I take, at 500% of the RDA. But I don't know how much of this my body can actually use.
• I don't eat the inflammation, obesity, and cancer diet that most Americans prefer over real food. This diet radically increases the amount of C the body needs. Why the vast majority of people do this to themselves is a mystery to me, but if you are one of the 95%+ of Americans making such choices you need to supplement your C. Not sure if you are doing this? Check your shopping cart; if you have processed "food" products, wheat products, soda, or similar toxins rather than almost entirely fruits and vegetables you are on the disease diet. If you don't even buy groceries but eat out, you are seriously on the disease diet.
• My diet is high in foods containing readily absorbable vitamin C and I eat those foods raw most of the time. From this source alone, my daily C intake rarely dips below 700% of the RDA.

Still, I am exposed to the spew emanating from people who believe that lung cancer is a worthwhile life goal and they want to spread the "joy" so they spew indiscriminately into the air that others must breathe. I'm not that way with my fire-arms practice, but the get-cancer crowd doesn't return the courtesy. Their insanity alone means a huge increase in the need for Vitamin C among normal people.

For the most part, Vitamin C has become commoditized. So it's difficult to point out how one brand compares to another. But let me try to do that.

I like to evaluate supplements on several metrics:

• Product packaging. I lean toward simply returning something that requires the Jaws of Life to open. I do not buy something with the goal of never opening the package it comes in. Viva does put a plastic seal on its cap. But I was able to open this container easily. No chainsaw required. In fact, I easily opened it with just my bare hands. Simply giving the cap a good twist will also remove the seal. The container opens without a problem. This leads to the inner seal. Some companies us a toxic aluminum foil seal that will invariably leave particles of this toxic metal on the contents; I once bought a jar of coconut oil with such a seal and was aghast at the stupidity of the manufacturer. This seal is one with the built-in tab, and it is easily removed.
   
• Capsule/tablet quality. I've seen capsules that fall apart and capsules that are in bits. This is bad. I poured these out and did not find one broken capsule. Yay! I don't know why Viva uses a capsule and some other manufacturers compress the C into a tablet. There may be a good reason for this, but I have no idea. If you have a preference, you now know they use a capsule.
   
• Nausea effect. Vitamin C capsules won't give you nausea unless you really overdo it. So this inherently passes that test.
   
• Sugar coating. Some supplement makers put a sugar coating or other unhealthy coating on their products. No such problem here.
   
• Dosage. This is where you really need to worry. I don't get sick so seldom go to see my physician. So seldom, in fact, my records are in the inactive file whenever I do visit. I've shown up there for things like getting a tick removed from my thumb or getting a medical insurance physical exam (based on what those exams look it, they are really worthless). On one of my visits, he told me about a patient with "inexplicable" symptoms. None of the standard tests could shed any light on what was wrong. But my doctor is (unlike most) actually good at practicing medicine. Instead of running test after test, he just talked with this guy. It turned out the patient was supplementing with 20,000 IU daily with C. That's the equivalent of taking 20 of these capsules every day. So just use some common sense, and you won't OD on C with this supplement. Since C is water-soluble, be sure you are getting adequate water daily (sodas, coffee, and beer do not count toward this).

If you are on the typical American diet, you need to replace grain with green. This is a foundational step in personal health care. During the transition phase, while your body is detoxing and nutrient absorption is probably encumbered and your body is under significant stress, add a C supplement to your program. This looks like a good one, to me.

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