A Guide To The Vitamins C
By Sam Cyrus

Vitamin C is one of the most important vitamins and has got to be the most widely known vitamin these days. The body needs vitamin C for over 300 functions. Vitamin C is most commonly known for aiding in the function of the immune system and prevents a lot of diseases. As long as you monitor your intake of vitamin C and use it on a daily basis, you’ll find that your health and immune system will be better than ever.

You can take the vitamin C with or without any food, as it can be found in supplement form or in many different juices.  Along with being found in supplement and vitamin form, you can find vitamin C in broccoli, cranberries,  melons, peppers, oranges, lemon juice, mustard greens, cauliflower, papaya, and parsley. Orange juice is a great way to get your daily dose of vitamin C, as all you need to do is drink a few glasses of it a day.  Even if you drink a glass of orange juice in the morning with your breakfast then eat a few oranges during the day, you’ll get more than enough vitamin C.

Unfortunately, the vitamin C is water soluble so many vegetables lose their effectiveness as a vitamin C provider if they are boiled for a long time. Steaming or quick stir frying vegetables ensures that more of their vitamin C content is retained. The recommended daily amount of the vitamin C is easily obtained from eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day if they are consumed raw or cooked quickly.

Vitamin C supplements are extremely useful to ensure that people obtain sufficient the vitamin C. By consuming the vitamin C supplements, people avoid a deficiency in vitamin C. The most common signs of a deficiency in vitamin C include swollen gums, an unexplained weakness, and nosebleeds.  Deficiency is common these days, with the most common reasons being alcoholism and a poor diet. However, with a balanced diet the amount of vitamin C the body receives is likely to be sufficient.

It may be in your best interest to take vitamin C supplements along with the other vitamins and minerals. The combination of vitamin C and vitamin E will work side by side, and enhance their overall impact on your body and your health.  As a well-known antioxidant, vitamin C protects your skin from the harmful damage of UV rays. If you use vitamin E and C together, you’ll notice that scars and other harmful defects on your skin will start to heal as well. Vitamin C also helps protect the fat-soluble vitamin A and vitamin E as well as fatty acids from oxidation. Vitamin C prevents and cures the disease scurvy, and can be beneficial in the treatment of iron deficiency anemia.

The vitamin C also helps other vitamins and minerals to be absorbed better. Folic acid and iron, for example, need the vitamin C to maximise their usefulness. The more vitamin C that the body has, the better its defence against colds and other common ailments. The vitamin C may not prevent a person catching a virus but it does help speed up the recovery process.

In fact, the vitamin C has been proved to help protect against heart disease, cancer and other serious illnesses. Without the vitamin C the body would not be able to heal itself either. This is because the vitamin C is vital for the formation of collagen. Whenever a person has a cut or an injury it is the collagen that helps repair the damage and without sufficient vitamin C this would be almost impossible. Collagen has a multitude of functions in the body, including keeping the organs in place, and it would not be able to do this without sufficient the vitamin C.