The US RDA for vitamin C for humans is only 10% of the government’s vitamin C standards for Guinea pigs. Wait a minute; that cannot possibly be true, can it?
The US Department of Agriculture states that “the Guinea pig’s vitamin C requirement is 10-15 mg per day under normal conditions and 15-25 mg per day if pregnant, lactating, or growing.”
Well, that sounds reasonable. But how much is that compared to humans? An adult guinea pig weighs about one kilogram (2.2 pounds). Guinea pigs therefore need between 10 and 25 milligrams of C per kilogram.
In the US, an average human weighs (at least) 82 kg (180 lbs). It's good to know I'm average.
That means the USDA’s standards, if fairly applied to us, would set our vitamin C requirement somewhere between 820 mg and 2,000 mg vitamin C per day. The US RDA for vitamin C is different than that. Quite different. It is lower. Much lower.
The US RDA for vitamin C for humans is 90 mg for men; 75 mg for women. (If you smoke, they allow an additional 35 mg/day extra. Wow.
Why are we humans repeatedly urged to consume only the RDA when the RDA is one-tenth or less of that same government’s official nutrient requirement for an animal?
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