Introduction:
Vitamin C or Ascorbic Acid not only helps to boost collagen, but it also supports your mental health and keeps heart healthy by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation.
It also has other benefits as well. But before jump on to those benefits, let me give you some more info about vitamin c.
Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin so it can’t be stored by the body. As a result, you need to take it on a daily basis to fulfill your needs. In this story, we share with you 15 incredible foods which have high amount of vitamin c than oranges. Click here to see the post.
Now let’s start our journey to explore the diverse benefits of it to transform our health.
The first question comes to our mind, ” Why do we need to have vitamin c in our diet? “. To understand the importance of vitamin c in your body, firstly you need to know the signs and symptoms of vitamin c deficiency.
Sign and symptoms of Vitamin C deficiency:
If you don’t have enough c vitamin in your body then you’re likely to have suffered from—-
- Scurvy
- Bleeding gums
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Joint pain
- Slow wound healing
- Anemia
- Dry skin
- Bruising
- Hair fall
Causes of Vitamin C deficiency:
There are various reasons why we suffer from this deficiency. In this post we list some of the causes.
Eating less:
Many people suffer from this deficiency because they don’t eat foods which are high in vitamin c. The reason behind it that they don’t have the proper knowledge like what are the top sources of it. Sometimes it is also because of the poverty issue in the rural areas.
Important Note:
If you are privileged enough then please give nutritious foods to the needy people. You can also spread awareness in the blood donation campaign by providing the donors vitamin c rich foods as it helps to absorb iron in the body and it also helps the people from malnutrition. Remember it’s our duty to serve mankind.
You can attain peace of mind by simply cherishing these moments in your bad days. Give this a try, I’m sure you’ll thank me later.
Poor absorption:
Sometimes people complain that they’re eating vitamin c rich foods daily but they’re suffering from vitamin c deficiency. Why is that? What is the reason behind it?
It’s because your body can’t absorb the nutrients from your food. It may be because of your poor gut health. I highly recommend you to detox your gut. But why detox?
Imagine a pipe which is working 24×7. After some years we notice that the pipe doesn’t work properly as it did some years back. So the pipe needs to be repaired and cleaned to function properly again.
In this way, our gut also needs a detoxification to work properly. If it gets clogged because of the toxins then you’ll suffer from various digestive disorders like ( Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease, Celiac Disease, Gas, Bloating ) and also mental health disorders such as ( Stress, Depression, Anxiety, Panic attack, Mood Swings etc ).
Now you understand the importance of gut detox.
But the problem is how to do it??. You can definitely check out our detailed blog about 3 natural ways to do colon cleansing or you can say it as gut detox. Hope it helps. Click this link here to see the post.
You can also check out our web story about the list of top 7 foods to help you with a gut detox.
After detoxification of your gut, you can definitely notice that your malnutrition and other digestive disorders, poor mental health are gone.
Smoking and Alcohol Addiction:
Any kind of addiction is bad for us. Smoking and alcohol are two main enemies of our health nowadays. Both of them slowly hinders our body’s natural mechanism.
Smoking and drinking alcohol produce high amount of free radicals in the body. As a result our immune system wants more antioxidants to fight against these free radicals and to reduce the oxidative stress in the body.
This process demands high amount of it in the body. And this is also a reason for this deficiency in the body.
Dialysis:
In the process of dialysis, people with kidney disease loses all important nutrients from the body. This can also lead to have deficiency of this vitamin in the body.
Chronic diseases or Medications:
If you’re suffering from any chronic illness or having certain medications for a long period, it may increase the risk of this deficiency in the body.
Vitamin C benefits:
Here we speak about 15 benefits of vitamin c in human body if you take it daily.
Acts as an Antioxidant:
The first and most important point is that this vitamin or ascorbic acid is a powerful antioxidant which reduces free radicals in the body. Ultimately it protects us against oxidative stress of the cells.
And you may be shocked to know that oxidative stress is very harmful for us as it increases aging and chronic diseases.
Supports Immunity:
Studies show that this vitamin helps us in making white blood cells and these white blood cells activates our immunity to fight against common cold, flu, seasonal fever etc.
Boosts Collagen:
Every skin care product is incomplete without vitamin c as it produces collagen in the body. It helps to slow down premature aging of the skin. It also retains elasticity of the skin.
Keeps Heart Healthy:
Heart disease is very common in today’s generation. So to make your heart healthy, you can add this vitamin in your daily diet. It reduces inflammation of the arteries, checks and improves blood pressure levels.
Nourishes Brain:
As it reduces oxidative stress in the body, it is also beneficial to nourish our brain and the neurotransmitter to transfer the signals properly. And we all know that proper signaling of the brain helps in depression, anxiety and mood swings.
Improve Eyes:
It plays a crucial role in maintaining optimal eye health. If you include this in your diet daily then you can lower the risk of cataracts and age related macular degeneration in old age.
Radiant Skin:
Skin care products promise us to have a bright skin after applying their serum, lotion, creams etc. But without all of these, you can surely achieve a radiant glow on your skin by including this vitamin in your diet.
It helps to stop melanin production which can cause hyper pigmentation, dark spots, uneven skin. And as a result, you can achieve a radiant glow on your skin.
Repairs Sun Damage:
Sun light causes wrinkles, sun spots, loose skin, dryness in the skin. In these cases, it helps to repair sun damaged skin naturally.
Hair Growth:
We should replenish our daily requirements of collagen as it doesn’t produce much in the body. And with time it slowly stops producing in the body. But it is essential for hair growth as it stimulates new hair follicles to grow. So we should consume this vitamin.
UV Protection:
It also helps to protect your skin and hair from UV radiation as excess of the UV radiation can lead to skin dryness and brittle hair in the long run.
Moisture Retention:
Moisture retention is very important to improve your skin and hair. If you want to keep moisture of your skin and hair then you should add this vitamin in your diet.
Prevents Dandruff:
It increases the production of the natural oil in the scalp known as sebum. Sebum moisturizes the hair and helps to give a natural shine in the hair. Moisture prevents dryness in the hair and ultimately prevents dandruff.
Iron Absorption:
Vitamin C increases the absorption of non heme iron in the body. Our body absorbs ferrous iron easily rather than ferric form of the iron. So it is advisable to eat with plant based iron rich foods to prevent iron deficiency anemia.
Heals Wound:
As this boosts collagen, it helps to repair damaged tissues in any part of the body. And thus it is also famous for its wound healing properties.
Improves Gut Health:
Some studies show that it is an excellent prebiotic which is a fuel for the gut microbiome. As a result it improves digestion and reduces the risk of digestive disorders such as Inflammatory bowel disease, Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease etc.
Vitamin C rich foods:
We can get vitamin c in huge amount in vegetarian foods rather than non veg foods.
Now let’s quickly discuss the list of foods to try to have proper amount of it in our body.
We share the amount of this nutrient which you can get from the foods in one cup per serving means 100 grams.
Veg options:
1. Citrus fruits – 53 mg ( Oranges, Lemon, Grapes, Tangerines)
2. Bell peppers – 127 mg ( Red, Yellow, Green)
3. Papaya – 61 mg
4. Brussels sprouts – 85 mg
5. Yellow Star Fruit – 34.4 mg
6. Sea Buck thorn Berries – 300 mg
7. Guava – 228 mg
8. Kale – 93 mg
9. Pineapple – 47.8 mg
10. Kakadu Plum – 481 mg
Non veg options:
You can’t get high amount of it in non veg foods. But you can try —
Beef liver, pork, crab, tuna, chicken, oyster, salmon, shrimp, turkey etc.
I would suggest you to add veg options in your diet to meet your daily requirements of this vitamin.
Daily dose of Vitamin C:
According to RDA or Recommended Dietary Allowance, the amount of this vitamin varies person to person. We can give you a general overview.
Infants (0-6 months) :
The guidelines suggest that in infants it should be 40 mg per day.
Infants (7-12 months) :
It should be 50 mg per day for the infants who are aging from 7-12 months.
Children (1-3 years) :
For toddlers you should follow 15 mg per day to require your daily needs.
Children (4-8 years) :
It should be 25 mg per day for these age group.
Children (9-13 years) :
For both males and females the RDA is 45 mg per day.
Adolescents (14-18 years) :
For male the RDA suggests 75 mg per day and for female the RDA suggests 65 mg per day of vitamin c.
Adults (19 years+) :
For males, you may consider 90 mg of it per day and for females it can be 75 mg per day.
Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women:
During pregnancy, the ideal RDA is 85 mg per day and for breastfeeding women it should be 120 mg per day as lactation needs more vitamin to support milk production.
Conclusion:
In a nutshell, we can say that the benefits of this vitamin are truly amazing. By following this post we can start our journey to have a good health.