Vitamin C: everything you need to know
You have likely been told to take vitamin C during cold and flu season in order to give your immune system a boost, but its variety of uses and health and beauty benefits have also placed its acidity on the tip of many people’s tongues. From your immune system to your skin to your bones to your brain, vitamin C has beneficial effects that you likely don’t know about. We’ll help break it down for you so you will know if, when and how you should be getting it in your daily life.
What exactly is vitamin C?
Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid and is a water-soluble vitamin nutrient and antioxidant. Because it is water-soluble, our bodies do not store it, but it plays a vital role in many functions within our body.
Why do you need vitamin C?
Vitamin C plays a vital role in forming and maintaining blood vessels, bones, muscle and cartilage. It is also a vital component of the body’s immune system and healing process and helps the body absorb iron preventing you from developing anemia.
As an antioxidant, it works to protect your cells against free radicals – “atoms that contain an unpaired electron. Due to this lack of a stable number of outer shell electrons, they are in a constant search to bind with another electron to stabilize themselves—a process that can cause damage to DNA and other parts of human cells. This damage may play a role in the development of cancer and other diseases and accelerate the aging process.” So, vitamin C may play a role in keeping you looking young and in guarding against some chronic diseases.
Vitamin C has also been linked to better brain function, explained by Tamar Samuels, RDN, in an article for Everyday Health when she said “Vitamin C also plays a role in neurotransmitter synthesis and cognitive function.” Neurotransmitters “transmit signals from neve cells to target cells,” meaning they relay messages from the brain to other parts of the body, and they appear to benefit from higher vitamin C levels.
Having enough vitamin C may also help to reduce high blood pressure, as suggested by Johns Hopkins University, and with this it may also lower your risk of heart disease.
While we certainly need to make sure we are getting enough vitamin C, and it is beneficial in so many ways, it is also attributed with things that there is no real evidence of being true like the fact that it prevents the common cold. While it does boost overall immunity, it does very little, if anything at all as far as prevention as evidenced in Harvard Health where Dr. Bruce Bistrian of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is quoted as saying “The data show that vitamin C is only marginally beneficial when it comes to the common cold.”
Some have said that vitamin C supplements aid in the prevention of cancer, but this has been shown to be unsupported.
Lastly, some have claimed that taking a vitamin C supplement will help reduce the risk of certain eye diseases like cataracts and some types of macular degeneration, but this has also proved untrue.
How much vitamin C do you need?
Knowing that you need something is only half of the equation, and knowing how much you need is the other half. If you’re an adult, male or female, drinking a glass of orange juice with your eggs and toast is likely not going to be enough and may leave you deficient. Further, if you are a woman who is pregnant or breastfeeding, the amount of vitamin C that you need is higher than for women who are not. The National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements has the daily dose for an adult female as 75 mg and for an adult male as 90 mg, with adult referring to anyone 19 and above. They also note that anyone who smokes should up their intake by 35 mg a day, as smokers commonly have vitamin C deficiencies.
What are the best ways to get enough vitamin C?
Vitamin C is what’s considered an essential vitamin, which means that our body does not produce it on its own so we have to get it either through diet or supplements. Most people who eat a varied and healthy diet will get enough vitamin C this way. The Mayo Clinic cites foods that are good to eat to boost your C as being “citrus fruits, berries, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and spinach.” Medical News Today gets a little more specific with 20 of the best foods for vitamin C, adding several foods like guava, hot green chili pepper, and kiwifruit.
While most people get enough from their diet, those who don’t can take a vitamin C supplement. Be aware, however, that vitamin C does have a maximum recommended amount of 2,000 mg a day for adults, and taking a supplement increases the chance of you getting more of it than you need. While taking too much vitamin C won’t kill you, it may cause stomachache and cramping, diarrhea and nausea, and in some cases can lead to kidney stones. Also, taking a mega dose will not up the benefits of the vitamin.
Lastly, pumping yourself full of vitamin C supplements like Emergen-C and others during cold and flu season will not keep you from getting sick.
The long and short of vitamin C is that it is a critical vitamin for our overall health so definitely one to focus on, but the best way to do this is by eating vitamin C rich foods in the recommended amount.
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