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Vitamin C Requirement Calculator

See exactly how much vitamin C you need each day.

How it is calculated

A base value in mg per day is looked up from age in years and sex, then a smoking supplement is added: target = base RDA + smoker extra. Base values: under 1 year 40; ages 1 to 3: 15; ages 4 to 8: 25; ages 9 to 13: 45; ages 14 to 18: 65 for females and 75 for males; age 19 and over: 75 for females and 90 for males. Smokers get a flat +35 mg; non-smokers get 0, and an empty smoker field counts as no. An empty sex field counts as male. The tool adds the 35 mg at any age, even for a child, although the smoking supplement is meant for adult smokers. The values are US reference values, and needs rise in pregnancy and breastfeeding, which the tool does not cover.

Worked example

A 42-year-old woman who smokes. Age 42 is 19 or over and the sex is female, so the base RDA is 75 mg. Smoker extra = 35 mg. Target = 75 + 35 = 110 mg per day. A non-smoking woman of the same age would see 75 mg with a smoker extra of 0 mg, and a man who does not smoke would see 90 mg.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Leaving the smoker field on no because you only smoke occasionally, or because you vape. The tool is a simple yes or no and adds the full 35 mg only on yes.
  • Leaving sex empty as a woman. It defaults to male, which raises an adult base value from 75 to 90 mg.
  • Assuming the target is a ceiling. It is a daily recommended amount, and the tool says nothing about the upper limit or about taking high-dose supplements.
  • Entering a child's age and ticking smoker. The tool still adds 35 mg, but the smoker supplement was set for adults, so ignore it for children.
  • Treating the result as a count of oranges or tablets. It is the total of all vitamin C from food and supplements in mg, not a serving count.

Sources

About this calculator

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C, set by the US Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), is 90 mg per day for adult men and 75 mg per day for adult women — figures based on the intake needed to maintain near-maximal white blood cell concentration of the vitamin with a margin of safety, not merely the amount needed to prevent scurvy.

Smokers have a distinctly higher requirement: the same guidelines add 35 mg per day on top of the baseline recommendation, because tobacco smoke increases oxidative stress and accelerates the metabolic turnover of vitamin C in the body, meaning smokers need meaningfully more dietary intake just to reach the same blood levels as non-smokers.

This calculator applies these age-, sex-, and smoking-status-specific NIH/Institute of Medicine recommendations to give you your personal daily vitamin C target.

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