Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant at normal dietary levels, protecting cells. But at very high doses (25-75 grams), it flips to a pro-oxidant effect that can damage cells instead. The shift happens when your body can't eliminate the excess fast enough.
At lower doses, it's going to mainly function as what it normally does, an antioxidant. So our cells are going to take it up and use it as one of the primary antioxidants, which vitamin C is. So we have that, right? When we get to higher doses, so let's say in the average adult, we're somewhere 25, 50, 75 grams, you know, bigger doses. When you hit a certain point, you start to overwhelm the elimination of the vitamin C. And so the blood levels stay higher. When that happens at higher doses, you have what's called an oxidative effect. Now, it's not quite that simple, but that's the bottom line if you want to really get it down to the simplest terms. Low doses tends to be an antioxidant effect. High doses tend to be a pro-oxidant effect.
