Aurora Flow contains 560mg of vitamin C per daily dose. That's 700% of the EU Nutrient Reference Value, and we print it on the bottle.
Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment โ the BfR โ recommends that a food supplement contain no more than 250mg of vitamin C per daily dose.
We are more than double that. This article is about why, what the two numbers actually mean, and what we think you should take from the gap. I'd rather you read this from us than find it somewhere less friendly.
Where 700% comes from
The Nutrient Reference Value for vitamin C is 80mg per day. It's set in Annex XIII of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 and it's a labelling reference, not a recommendation โ a fixed denominator so that percentages on different products can be compared.
560 divided by 80 is 7. Hence 700%.
Nothing more sophisticated is happening. Any number above 100% simply means the product contains more than the reference figure, and because the reference is deliberately low, big percentages are easy to reach. A 500mg vitamin C tablet from any pharmacy is 625%. This is one reason percentages are a poor way to think about dose โ they make ordinary amounts look dramatic, and the supplement industry has not exactly rushed to point that out.
Where 250mg comes from
The BfR figure is more considered, and worth walking through, because the derivation is public and most people have never seen it.
EFSA set a guidance value of 1,000mg per day for vitamin C taken in addition to dietary intake. The BfR then made two decisions:
Split that 1,000mg evenly between supplements and fortified foods, on the reasoning that people consume both and neither should assume it has the whole allowance. That gives 500mg.
Apply an uncertainty factor of 2, standard practice when extrapolating population guidance to individual products. That gives 250mg.
The BfR raised this figure from 225mg to 250mg in its 2021 review. It applies to adults and people aged 15 and over.
So 250mg is not a safety cliff. It's a conservative allocation designed so that someone taking a supplement, drinking fortified juice and eating a normal diet doesn't accumulate past EFSA's guidance without noticing.
What actually happens at higher doses
The literature here is less alarming than the framing usually suggests, and I want to be accurate in both directions.
EFSA found no increased risk of kidney stones at habitual intakes of 1,500mg per day. Vitamin C is water-soluble; the body's absorption efficiency falls as the dose rises, and surplus is excreted.
What has been observed at high intakes is gastrointestinal: bloating, diarrhoea, transient colic. Also increased urinary excretion of oxalate and uric acid, which is the mechanism behind the kidney stone concern even though the population data hasn't borne it out at these levels.
At 560mg, in a healthy adult, the realistic worst case is a mildly unhappy stomach โ most likely if you take the capsules without food. That's why our directions say to take them with a meal, and it isn't a throwaway line.
If you have a history of kidney stones, haemochromatosis or any iron-overload condition, or you have kidney impairment, this dose deserves a conversation with your doctor rather than a paragraph from a brand that wants to sell you something.
So is 560mg justified?
Here's where I have to be careful, because there's a version of this article where I explain why our number is secretly the right one, and that version would be marketing.
The honest position:
The dose is legal. There is no binding EU maximum for vitamins in supplements, and no German one either. The BfR figure is guidance, explicitly non-binding. Plenty of products on the German market sit well above it.
It is comfortably within EFSA's safety framing. 560mg supplemental, against a 1,000mg guidance value and no observed stone risk at 1,500mg.
Whether you personally need it is a different question, and for most people the answer is probably not. The German Nutrition Society puts adult requirements at roughly 95โ110mg per day, and a varied diet reaches that without supplements. Correcting a deficiency resolves the fatigue that deficiency causes. Adding vitamin C to a body that already has enough mostly produces more vitamin C in your urine.
The authorised claim โ vitamin C contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue โ is true at 80mg and true at 560mg. It is not more true at 560mg. EFSA assessed the nutrient's role in normal metabolism, not a dose-response curve for how tired you feel.
And there's a version of this where a regulator disagrees with us. The BfR has recommended that supplement labels carry warnings above certain thresholds for other nutrients. If German maximum levels ever become binding rather than advisory, a 560mg product would need reformulating for that market. We'd rather have said this out loud first.
What we'd tell you if you asked
If vitamin C is the reason you're considering Aurora Flow, don't buy it. A plain vitamin C supplement at 200โ250mg costs a fraction of what we charge, sits inside BfR guidance, and will do the same job.
What you're actually paying for is a four-ingredient formula with every amount disclosed and no proprietary blends. The vitamin C is the part with the authorised claim attached โ which makes it the part we're allowed to talk about, not the part doing the most work.
If you'd rather stay under 250mg, take one capsule instead of two. You'll get 280mg of vitamin C and 90mg of caffeine. The bottle lasts twice as long. We would genuinely rather you did that than take a dose you're uneasy about.
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Aurora Flow Energy Complex contains vitamin C 560mg (700% NRV), taurine 400mg, caffeine 180mg and guarana extract 60mg per daily dose of two capsules. Every amount is printed on the label. Made and shipped from Germany.
Vitamin C contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Vitamin C contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.
Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet or a healthy lifestyle. Do not exceed the stated recommended daily dose. Keep out of reach of young children. Contains caffeine (180mg per daily dose) โ not recommended for children or pregnant women. No health claims are authorised in the EU for caffeine, guarana or taurine.