The Benefits of Vitamin C
Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in some foods and commonly added to others.
Vitamin C is an essential vitamin for our immune system, but most importantly, our body can’t produce or store it, so in order to maintain adequate levels of vitamin C, we need a daily intake of foods or supplements that contain it.
What Does Vitamin C Do?
Vitamin C is vital to the body’s healing process – It’s a nutrient that your body needs in order to form blood vessels, muscle, cartilage and collagen in your bones, and it also helps our body absorb and store iron.
Along with all of this, Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps to protect our cells against the effects of free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that are produced when our body breaks down food or when it’s exposed to tobacco smoke, radiation from the sun, x-rays and other sources.
Benefits of Vitamin C
It Boosts Our Immunity
The main reason we take vitamin C supplements is to boost our immune system. Vitamin C helps to encourage the production of white blood cells, which help protect our body against infections and free radicals.
It Helps With Workout Recovery
Vitamin C is required for the growth and repair of tissues in all parts of your body. It is used to form collagen, a protein used to make skin, scar tissue, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels. It is also essential for the healing of wounds, and for the repair and maintenance of people’s cartilage, bones, and teeth – therefore, it helps our body to recover and heal after workout sessions.
It Does Wonders For Our Skin
This is one of my favourite vitamin C benefits! For the same reason vitamin C helps with body recovery while promoting collagen production, vitamin C has the potential to thicken our dermis, to diminish fine lines, and to promote a more firm and youthful-looking skin. On top of that, as it is an antioxidant, it protects our skin cells from damaging UV exposure.
It Keeps Our Iron Levels In Check
Iron is also very important for the body, as it is essential for making red blood cells and transporting oxygen around it. Vitamin C supplements help improve the absorption of iron from our diet, and assists in converting poorly absorbed iron into an iron that is easier for our body to absorb.
It Makes Us Think Better
Lower vitamin C levels have often been linked to an increased risk of thinking and memory disorders like dementia, and a higher intake of vitamin C from foods and supplements has been shown to have a very protective effect on the memory.
Where Do We Get Vitamin C From?
We need to get it from our diet. Vitamin C can be found in a wide variety of fruits and veggies such as oranges and orange juice, peppers, strawberries, blackcurrants, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, potatoes, spinach, and many more.
Vitamin C is also available as an oral supplement and widely used by many, as part of a healthy diet, to complement their daily intake. Introducing vitamin C supplements into your diet is a great and simple way to boost your vitamin C intake if you struggle to get enough from your diet! You can order online here.
Sources: https://www.healthline.com – https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/ – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – https://www.who.int –
