Health Benefits Of Vitamin C

Vitamin C is essential in order for your body to function more efficiently. It is also known as ascorbic acid. Many people take Vitamin C, knowing that it is good for their body but do not fully know why.

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin. This essentially means that if the vitamin is not used by your body, it gets eliminated through urination. Another water soluble vitamin is Vitamin B. Usually, both vitamins are stored in the liver. In that way, your body can derive benefits from the stored nutrient.

Surprisingly, it has been found that humans were once able to create their own Vitamin C naturally by themselves. This is no longer the case. Somehow, this ability was lost over several generations. There are certain animals which still possess this natural functional ability. But not the primates and guinea pigs. Hence you often hear of research studies, including those that involve Vitamin C, being conducted on guinea pigs based on this similar characteristic to the humans.

Collagen creation is one affect of taking Vitamin C. This vitamin is found in many different parts of the body, including connective tissues, skeletal cells, smooth muscle cells, and cartilage. It is necessary in creating collage, because it helps in the process of hydroxylation to amino acids, and thereby adding hydrogen and oxygen to create pro collagen. This process is performed when the body needs it. Vitamin C can also be helpful in that it can help keep Vitamins E and A 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.

Health experts recommend a daily allowance of somewhere in the range of 60 to 90mg of Vitamin C. On the average, Americans consume about 72mg daily of Vitamin C.

The good news is that scurvy can be prevented with just 5 to 7mg of Vitamin C and you can take as much as 2000mg daily without any health effects. Any Vitamin C over this dosage will not cause permanent problems, but you may experience diarrhea.

Many people think that the more Vitamin C that you take, the longer that you will live, but a study by the Mayo Clinic has determined that this may be the opposite. If you cannot get your Vitamin C from natural food sources, then you can find Vitamin C supplements to take to help ensure that you get your recommended daily allowance.

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Evelyn Lim, a health writer, publishes interesting tips on natural home remedies on her site. For some useful ideas about what you can do for your own home and family, please refer to her site at www.natural-remedy-secrets.com.