Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) - Benefits, Deficiency Symptoms and Food Sources

Vitamin C is a water soluble and an antioxidant vitamin. Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid. It is one of the more readily available vitamins for most people around the world. Commercial vitamin C is often a mix of ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate and/or other ascorbates.

Functions and benefits of Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)

Vitamin C is required for the synthesis of collagen. It is an important structural component of blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, and bone. Vitamin C helps some of our most important body systems like the skin, bones, teeth, blood vessels, cartilage, tendons and ligaments depends on collagen. And the integrity of collagen, in tum, depends on vitamin C. It also increased bowel tolerance phenomenon serves not only to indicate the amount which should be taken but indicates the unsuspected and astonishing magnitude of the potential use that the body has for ascorbate under stressful conditions. Vitamin C is one of many antioxidants.

Antioxidants are nutrients that block some of the damage caused by free radicals, which are by-products that result when our bodies transform food into energy. Vitamin C also helps prevent atherosclerosis by strengthening the artery walls through its participation in the synthesis of collagen, and by preventing the undesirable adhesion of white blood cells to damaged arteries. An adequate intake of the vitamin is highly protective against stroke and heart attack.

Recommended Dosage for Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)

Early US and Canadian RDA's suggested that 20 mg of Vitamin C per day would prevent scurvy; and, to leave a margin of error, 40 mg per day was recommended. Later, concerns that Vitamin C is destroyed by storage and cooking, and that food estimates of Vitamin C content may be misleading, lead to the increase in RDA to 60 mg per day.

Food sources of Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)

Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy products contain much smaller amounts, and cereal grains contain essentially none. Losses of vitamin C occur when foods are cooked in large amounts of water, exposed to extensive heating, or exposed to air. Some excellent sources of vitamin C are oranges, green peppers, watermelon, papaya, grapefruit, cantaloupe, strawberries, kiwi, mango, broccoli, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, and citrus juices or juices fortified with Vitamin C .

Deficiency Symptoms of Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)

A deficiency in vitamin C will result in a loss of collagen, which means the body will tend to bruise easier, as well as bleed, and be unable to form supportive scar tissue - a critical factor in healing. Symptoms include fatigue, depression, and connective tissue defects (eg, gingivitis, petechiae, rash, internal bleeding, impaired wound healing). In infants and children, bone growth may be impaired.