Why should you take Vitamin C?
There are many reasons to incorporate vitamin C in your daily routine. Vitamin C is known as an antioxidant that helps protect cells from damage caused by free radicals and reactive oxygen molecules, and holds a lot of health benefits for both men and women. Through this article, you will read why it’s important to take vitamins C regularly and get to know its various health benefits.
Vitamin C:
Vitamin C is also known as L-ascorbic acid and it is naturally present in a number of foods. Vitamin C is one of the most important vitamins for your body that cannot be synthesized by our body.
Food sources:
Rich sources of Vitamin C:
Papaya, Grapefruit, Lemon, Orange, Kiwi and other citrus fruits.
Other sources:
Red and Green Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, Strawberries, Raspberries, Green leafy vegetables etc.
Benefits of taking Vitamin C:
Healthy skin:
It helps repair tissue and build collagen, which makes your skin look youthful and healthy. Vitamin C also reduces pigmentation but is not clinically proven enough to topically use on your own. Consult a dermatologist before using it as a tropical.
Vitamin C also helps produce some neurotransmitters, including dopamine and serotonin.
Boost immunity:
It’s also an antioxidant that helps remove reactive oxidative stress from the body. Vitamin C also boosts your immune system by creating more white blood cells and by enhancing wound healing.
Wound Healing:
It promotes wound healing (a process known as “angiogenesis”) by increasing the production of new blood vessels in damaged tissues. This means that vitamin C helps prevent serious infections such as gangrene.
Aid in mineral and Vitamin absorption:
Vitamin C aids in the absorption of iron, calcium, and zinc, which are all important nutrients for women. It also enhances the effects of vitamin E.
Vitamin C in Conception:
Vitamin C is particularly important during pregnancy because it helps prevent scurvy, a condition caused by a lack of vitamin C. Scurvy can lead to birth defects and developmental problems for your baby. Pregnant women should get 400 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C every day from food sources or supplements.
Improves vision:
vitamin C is used to make collagen, a protein that provides structure to your eye, particularly in the cornea and sclera. 1
Several observational studies suggest that vitamin C may help lower your risk of developing cataracts – a condition causing your eye to become cloudy and impairs vision.2
Vitamin C and Cancer:
At this time, the evidence is inconsistent on whether dietary vitamin C intake affects cancer risk. Results from most clinical trials suggest that modest vitamin C supplementation alone or with other nutrients offers no benefit in the prevention of cancer.
Deficiency of Vitamin C:
Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that plays a major role in many aspects of a human’s health. The enzyme called ascorbate oxidase makes use of vitamin C to influence the blood’s ability to coagulate. Thus, low levels of vitamin C can be risk factors for heart attack and stroke because it could possibly worsen blood clotting and cause more damage. More importantly, certain side effects of vitamin C deficiency may include: scurvy (loss of teeth and gums), fatigue, joint pains, confusion, drowsiness and seizures.
How much Vitamin C to take?
The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vitamin C is 90 milligrams per day for adults over the age of 14. However, some people may require more or less than this amount to maintain good health because of their age and other factors. Many people take supplements containing as much as 1,000 milligrams per day because they believe that they need more than what they get from food alone.
Toxicity of Vitamin C:
Vitamin C has low toxicity and is not believed to cause serious adverse effects at high intakes.3 The most common complaints are diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, and other gastrointestinal disturbances due to the osmotic effect of unabsorbed vitamin C in the gastrointestinal tract.4