By Jimmy Downs

Monday Feb 4, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Finally, a study associated taking vitamin C supplements with increased risk of kidney stones.  The study led by Agneta Åkesson, Associate Professor at Karolinska Institutet's Institute of Environmental Medicine and colleagues found men who took vitamin C supplements were twice as likely to develop kidney stones as those who did not take the supplement.  And the study also found that the more vitamin C people took, the higher their risk for kidney stone was.

In my opinion, the study seems intended to discourage people to take vitamin C supplements.

Åkesson was cited as saying "given that there are no well-documented benefits of taking high doses of vitamin C in the form of dietary supplements, the wisest thing might be not to take them at all, especially if you have suffered kidney stones previously."  The statement is apparently biased because evidence is strong that vitamin C in high doses can prevent or help many medical conditions.

Although some studies may not be as good as Professor Akesson's, but not all should be discounted for their quality.   One OBSERVATIONAL study led by Akesson et al. in my opinion should not discourage food consumers to take vitamin C supplements.  Akesson acknowledged that his study did not prove that taking vitamin C supplements is the cause of developing kidney stones. In other words, the association can be a chance work.

For those who ever doubt about the benefits of vitamin C, listed here are some findings reported on foodconsumer.org that suggest that vitamin C is a great supplement.

Vitamin C fights colds and influenza and its efficacy is similar to a common influenza drug called tamiflu.

Vitamin C lowers your blood pressure. Vitamin C has been known to benefit vascular health.

High vitamin C calcium may prevent diabetes.

Vitamin C can help prevent radiation-induced DNA damage.

Vitamin C and other nutrients prevent muscle damage.

Vitamin C helps children with autism

Vitamin C fights prostate cancer.

Vitamin C supplements lower cholesterol

Vitamin C may help fight melanoma.

Vitamin C reduces liver injury

Vitamin C relieves pain and dermatological symptoms of  Shingles

Vitamin C deficiency accelerates bone loss

Vitamin C, zinc, and omega 3 fatty acids may help asthma

Vitamin C cures polio and pneumonia

Vitamin C and vitamin A lower non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, diffuse lymphoma risk 

vitamin C reduces the reproductive damage induced by fluoride

Vitamin C cuts smoking induced atherosclerosis risk

Vitamin C supplements may fight gastric or esophageal cancer

Of course, many of these and other unlisted findings need to be further researched.  But all evidence combined suggests that vitamin C is a very beneficial nutrient.

Dr. Linus Pauling, the chemist who won two Nobel Prizes, who advocated for taking high doses of vitamin C to maintain health and prevent various diseases once said there had been no clinical evidence suggesting that taking vitamin C supplements causes kidney stone although theoretically it is possible.

Those who want to know more about benefits of vitamin C may want to read more on vitamincfoundation.org

(The writer claims that he does not sell any vitamin supplements and does not have  any financial tie with the dietary supplements industry)