Health Benefits Of Vitamin C

Vitamic C is needed for the efficient functioning of your body. It is also commonly known as ascorbic acid. Although many people consume Vitamic C, they have no idea as to what specific health benefits it has.

This vitamin is a water-soluble vitamin, which means that any vitamin that is not used is removed during urination, which helps to prevent overdose. Vitamin B is another water-soluble vitamin. These vitamins are both stored in the liver, so that your body can fully get the effects from the vitamin.

Humans were once able to create their own Vitamin C naturally, but this function was lost over the generations. Some animals still have this functional ability, but primates and guinea pigs have lost this ability, which is why guinea pigs are commonly used in research studies including Vitamin C.

Vitamic C helps in collagen production. Collagen is a substance found in various parts of your body. They can be found in your connective tissues, smooth muscle cells, skeletal cells, and cartilage. Vitamin C plays a critical part in the process of hydroxylation to amino acids. With this process of adding hydrogen and oxygen, procollagen is produced. This process happens when your body requires it. Vitamin C also helps to prevent Vitamins A and E from oxidizing as well.

Scurvy is one health effect that is seen when you have a deficiency of Vitamin C. This is not a condition that is seen very often today, except in alcoholics, because they tend to get many of their calories from their alcohol consumption. Scurvy can be a very bad illness, because it has such health symptoms as bleeding gums, bruising more easily, healing more slowly, joint pain, and decrease of muscle tone.

It is important that you have a regular diet that gives you adequate Vitamin C. For this, you need to consume citrus fruits, such as limes, grapefruits, oranges, and limes. Other food sources of Vitamin C can be found in potatoes, tomatoes, and green peppers.

To make sure that all people are getting the proper amount of Vitamin C, a recommended daily allowance has been set. This recommended amount is normally somewhere in the range of 60 to 90mg daily. Americans normally consumer about 72mg daily of Vitamin C.