4 IMPRESSIVE BENEFITS OF VITAMIN C;
- Vitamin C is an essential vitamin which
means your body doesn't produce it, you have to eat it.
Now for women the recommended intake
is 75 milligrams per day and for men it's 90 milligrams per day. Typically you
will meet those requirements if you eat fruit and vegetables regularly.
Now in this blog I'm looking at four
of the main ways that vitamin C benefits the body.
1; Helps Prevent
Iron deficiencies by improving iron
absorption. Iron is an important nutrient that has a variety of functions. It
is essential for making red blood cells and transporting oxygen throughout the
body.
Now interestingly, vitamin C can
help improve the absorption of iron from the diet. It assists in converting
iron that is poorly absorbed, such as plant-based sources of iron, into a form
that is easier to absorb.
This is especially useful for people on a meat-free diet as meat is one of our main sources of iron. Now what's interesting is if you just eat 100 milligrams of vitamin C with an iron containing food it can increase the absorption of that iron by up to 70%. As a result we know that vitamin C supplementation can reduce the risk of anemia and people prone to iron deficiency.
2;
Fights Heart Disease
Risk factors, potentially lowering
heart disease risk.
Many factors increase risk of heart
disease including high blood pressure, high LDL or bad cholesterol, low levels
of HDL, good cholesterol and high triglyceride levels. Vitamin C may help
reduce these factors which may reduce heart disease risk. For example, an
analysis of nine studies with a combined total of almost 300,000 participants found
that after 10 years, people who took at least 700 milligrams of vitamin C daily
than those who did not take a vitamin C supplement. Interestingly, another
analysis of 15 studies found that consuming vitamin C only from foods, not
supplements, was linked to a lower risk of heart disease. However, scientists
are unsure if people who consumed vitamin C-rich foods also followed a
healthier lifestyle than people who took the supplement. So therefore, it's not
really clear if the differences were due to vitamin C or other aspects of the
diet.
It seems like if you consume 500
milligrams or more per day of a vitamin C supplement it can reduce your risk of
heart disease if you have those risk factors. However, if you already eat a
diet rich in vitamin C then it seems like it won't make much difference.
3; Boosts Immunity
By helping white blood cells
function better.
Vitamin C is involved in many parts
of the immune system. First, vitamin C helps encourage the production of white
blood cells known as lymphocytes and phagocytes, which help protect the body
against infection. Second, vitamin C helps these white blood cells function
more effectively while protecting them from damage by potentially harmful
molecules, such as free radicals.
Third, vitamin C is an essential
part of the skin's defense system. It is actively transported to the skin where
it can act as an antioxidant to help strengthen the skin's barriers. Studies
have also shown that taking vitamin C may shorten wound healing time.
4;
Could Reduce Blood Uric Acid Levels
And help prevent gout attacks. Gout
is a type of painful arthritis like really painful arthritis that affects about
4% of the US population. Gout symptoms appear when there's too much uric acid
in the blood. Uric acid is a waste product produced by the body. At high
levels, it may crystallize and deposit in the joints. Interestingly, several
studies have shown that vitamin C may help reduce uric acid in the blood and as
a result, protect against gout attacks.
For example, this study followed almost
50,000 health men over 20 years to see if vitamin C intake was linked to
developing gout. Now interestingly, people who took a vitamin C supplement had
a 44% lower gout risk. Additionally, an analysis of 13 clinical studies found
that taking a vitamin C supplement over 30 days significantly reduced blood
uric acid compared to placebo. Although the authors did conclude that future
trials are needed to determine whether vitamin C supplementation can reduce
hyperuricemia which is high uric acid levels, or prevent incident and recurrent
gout. Ultimately, vitamin C is very important for your health and the majority
of us do get enough from a healthy diet. That said, if you are at risk of iron
deficiency, if you have a weak immune system or if you experience recurrent
gout attacks then I would definitely consider vitamin C supplementation.
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