NOW Foods Supplements, Magnesium Ascorbate Powder, Buffered, Antioxidant Protection*, 8-Ounce

There are so many discovering the wonderful benefits of Vitamin C. If you, like many others today, are following a plan or protocol that requires larger doses of this vitamin - you may have encountered problems with stomach upset or what has been traditionally referred to as "finding your bowel tolerance level", which limited the dosages you could take. This form of Vitamin C eliminates this problem, as the magnesium buffers it. There are other forms of ascorbate - sodium ascorbate and calcium ascorbate. Magnesium has its own benefits that I wanted and so I prefer this form. Magnesium ascorbate was recommended to me by a health expert and I have been using this NOW brand over the last 5 years or so. It works great and has never once affected my stomach or digestive system at all, even in the beginning. I like it in this powder form rather than caps. For one thing, if increasing dosage, who the heck wants to take more caps?! But also, it's so easy to scoop it into unfiltered apple juice or a smoothie and I can't even taste it. Makes taking your vitamins a joy!

I purchased this Vitamin C Supplement because it was non-acidic. This is helpful for 2 reasons; 1. the acidic kind are hard on my stomach, and 2. I take Adderall. I would like to explain #2 in some greater detail here. If you take adderall (prescribed, of course) you begin to grow a tolerance to the affect of the medicine. More often than not the doctors will prescribe higher and higher doses and you can become addicted. If you ingest acidic Vitamin C, your body actually prevents the absorption of the chemicals in adderall, and you become tolerant much much quicker. However, a Non-Acidic (buffered) Vitamin C doesn't do this, and can actually make your body accept the adderall quicker, meaning that the effects don't wear off as quick, and you are able to focus much easier. I like the powder as it helps me in this case, and is just a great Vitamin C supplement over all. My one, and only complaint is the taste. As it is a Magnesium supplement it does taste like metal, but I don't mind it enough to knock a star off for it.

If you've never looked up the benefits of magnesium ASCORBATE...there are quite a few different formulas for magnesium...you need to do some research. The benefits of this formula are magnificent, and in my opinion, THE best combination formula. Laced with vitamin C, the assimilation factor soars! The lower the dosage, the greater the assimilation factor. The higher the dosage, the lower the assimilation factor. I learned that my restless legs syndrome and heart palpitations since I was an adolescent were NOT normal! My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest when I would play sports...and I was a very aggressive athlete, always...AND I thought that was normal. I thought EVERYbody had that. NOPE! The restless legs syndrome...had that since I can remember...and these are the TWO main issues I dealt with. My Osteopath (I don't do MDs...I fire them) put me on magnesium MANY years ago, as he had his own lab, not farming my blood out for review, and he fixed things that were ignored by MDs for most of my life on this planet. Maybe I should say I don't trust corporate run labs, but I'll be honest. I DON'T. I've experienced too much, and my D.O. proved it to me, unwittingly. He didn't know anything but the numbers he saw with his own lab testing. EVERYthing that expands and contracts in our bodies...which is pretty much everything...needs collagen, and it's also a great support for production of collagen, which supports every organ of our entire bodies, especially the heart. If you don't know much about the global deficiency of magnesium, do some research on this subject.

I take 5-7 grams of vitamin C a day and for someone with adrenal fatigue, you would do best to take sodium ascorbate or magnesium ascorbate. I prefer magnesium ascorbate because I add sea salt to my water jug and sip from that all day. I like getting a little boost to my magnesium intake with this. I also take Re-Mag by Dr. Carolyn Dean, and this ascorbate allows me to get by with less Re-Mag and still consume 500-600 mg of magnesium per day. Magnesium is a great supplement for pretty much everyone, since our food supply is deficient in this mineral (due to our poor soils in which crops grow). Magnesium is also great for anyone who has cramps, insomnia, anxiety, and a multitude of other health problems. I asked the company how it's made and they said it's "corn free and created via fermentation using cassava, molasses or tapioca. This is L-Ascorbate and it is non-GMO."

I've been using magnesium ascorbate for a couple of decades. The NOW version tastes very sour, compared to other brands I had. It also is a very fine powder that does not dissolve well in water, it stays on top of the glass and sticks to its sides.. I don't know what is different. It says on the pack that the elemental magnesium is sourced from magnesium oxide, which is one of the kinds not recommended. Will have to search around for less sour and better soluble brands.

Try half a teaspoon three times a day along with 500mg niacin that produces a flush. This can be bulk ordered very inexpensively at Amazon. Take with meals or juice but not on an empty stomach. This buffers this niacin X magnesium ascorbate combination. Try this on a juice fast or juice feast. With this NOW product you get vitamin C and magnesium, both being important. Not much taste or stomach irritation to this so no down side. I consume a teaspoon per day, not all at once but spread across the day. You can consume this along w calcium ascorbate (not a bad idea) for osteoporosis along with 5000 units vit D and some vit K is good too

Bought this, excited to use it, to be shocked and deeply dismayed by the chemical result. It is a bad formulation. It starts out tasting exactly like ascorbic acid, which is good ... why? Because the reaction of the Magnesium base with the ascorbic acid is just starting (if it was already fully reacted it would not have that taste). When this reaction of ascorbic acid happens with a carbonate (like sodium bicarbonate), the CO2 gas is released and bubbles like crazy, and when it's done you have an ascorbate. In the case of sodium bicarbonate + ascorbic acid the result is sodium ascorbate + Co2 ... but that is NOT the kind of reaction happening here. Instead we are getting Magnesium Theronate and Oxalyl Theronate and Magnesium Oxalate - which has NO vitamin C in it! How do we know that? 2 REASONS: (1) No release of gases. If they were using a Magnesium Carbonate of some kind you would have a release of CO2, like you get in the sodium bicarbonate reaction with ascorbic acid. There is a different gas that is then released, but instead of escaping it is reacting with the products ... do you know what gas that is? Clue: it rhymes with boxajen, and using this gas is a terrible terrible plan as I will describe below. (2) A second reaction resulting in suspended black particulate within 10-20 seconds that gives the result a dark hazy look (mix a teaspoon with a teaspoon of water and you'll see what I mean) Instead of using a magnesium carbonate they must be using Mg(HO)2 (used in laxatives), which is a terrible terrible idea, because you end up with free molecular O2 as part of the reaction with ascorbic acid (yes the answer to the question in point #1 above is that Oxygen rhymes with boxajen), which O2 thereby immediately (and I mean instantly) oxidizes the Magnesium Ascorbate, which is a very unstable molecule, which then immediately decomposes to Magnesium Theronate and Oxalyl Theronate and Magnesium Oxalate - which thereby has NO vitamin C in it. That's why it turns dark after 5-10 seconds. Magnesium ascorbate is a small molecule (under 1000ua) so it isn't going to significantly affect the color of the liquid even at full saturation, so obviously these byproducts are being formed, which likely have polarities to them, causing them to clump enough that it turns dark. This is bad. It's very bad. The product probably is not bad for you, and it is still a decent form of magnesium, but there is no ascorbate as a result of this process, I can assure you, and the result is no better for you than any other magnesium supplement.

I put some in my bottled water and feel more refreshed and hydrated. Dont use too much though cause it might act as a laxative. For the reviewer who claimed it turned into something toxic, I suspect he used tap water with some contaminants, or possibly his container was exposed to excessive heat