For those with poor kidney function and people suffering from kidney diseases, the use of vitamin C cannot be indiscriminate. What is the reason for this?
Theoretically speaking, vitamin C is an essential nutrient for the human body. It is a rare and effective remedy for scurvy, which is characterized by symptoms such as swollen and bleeding gums, susceptibility to infection and suppuration, loose and falling teeth, subcutaneous bleeding, ecchymosis at pressure points, subperiosteal hemorrhage, and joint pain. Vitamin C not only prevents and treats scurvy but also assists in blood production, promotes wound healing, and enhances the body's resistance to infectious diseases. The role of vitamin C in preventing and treating the common cold has long been known to the public. In the treatment of liver and gallbladder diseases, it can promote the regeneration of liver cells and the synthesis of liver glycogen, enhance the liver's detoxification ability, reduce the toxicity of arsenic and mercury to the liver, and prevent lead and benzene poisoning. Vitamin C can also lower blood cholesterol and capillary fragility, prevent bleeding tendencies, and therefore, it is very beneficial for patients with cardiovascular diseases.
Although vitamin C has many of the above functions, people with poor kidney function should not take large doses of it. This is because, although excess vitamin C can be excreted from the body through urine, it first undergoes changes within the kidneys before being excreted. Taking large amounts of vitamin C increases the burden on the kidneys. Therefore, patients with kidney disease will have their kidneys become even weaker due to this excessive burden. For this reason, no matter what therapeutic effects vitamin C has, if it worsens one's own chronic illness, then the harm will outweigh the benefits, and the meaning of taking it will be lost.