Not only is vitamin C one of the most essential nutrients we need, but it is also a powerful antioxidant, cell restorer and blood vessel protector. You could say, it is one of nature’s personal superheroes, keeping our immune systems prepared for fighting infections.
Found in anything from the humble strawberry to your leafy greens, vitamin C is something that we have to seek out physically. For most of us, getting our daily recommended amount of the nutrient isn’t too challenging. But for those with a weakened immune system, a helpful boost of vitamin C might be required.
So, let’s focus on vitamin C for a moment and discover the incredible health benefits it provides:
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A natural collagen-booster
Vitamin C is so powerful it can pretty much sew your wounds back together, and gives strength to your cartilage and bones by promoting collagen production. You might be wondering why that is so important?
Collagen is the most abundant protein found in your body. So everything from the cornea in your eye to your skin, your blood vessels to your cartilage all need a healthy supply of collagen to function correctly. As you can imagine, having a low supply of vitamin C can compromise many of your vital body processes.
Gives your metabolism a boost!
Feeling sluggish and unmotivated could all be down to your diet. We need vitamin C to efficiently convert the food we eat and what we drink into energy. So if your diet is missing vitamin C rich foods, your body has to work much harder to process the unspent energy. Your metabolism slows, and your energy levels slump.
Vitamin C also helps us to absorb other essential vitamins, minerals and micronutrients to keep the rest of our body’s processes in check too.
Vitamin C strengthens your body’s defences
Rich in antioxidants, vitamin C helps strengthen your body’s natural defences. It boosts your immune system’s ability to combat illnesses and keep you healthy.
Free radicals are continuously attacking our immune system. Unstable and not willing to compromise, they cause all sorts of challenges for our body’s to tackle, such as breaking down cells and causing wrinkles on your face to appear. Antioxidants repair the broken atomic structure of harmful free radicals – taking away the threat, and stregthening your body’s defences as a result.
Keeps scurvy at bay!
Often associated with pirates and a past long forgotten, scurvy is still a cause for concern. Triggered by an extreme deficiency in vitamin C, the condition is much more rare today, but if your diet is lacking enough vitamin C for at least three months, you are much more at risk.
Normal mental health relies on vitamin C. Without it, come of the symptoms of scurvy can present as:
- Depression
- Personality changes
- Listlessness
- General malaise
Without enough vitamin C, your body struggles to create the vital hormones, noradrenaline and adrenaline. Each of them are responsible for regulating your mood, your concentration and how you process decisions.
Healthy, fresh looking skin
Plump cheeks and dewy skin are all signs of health and vitality. As the collagen levels in our body decrease with age, and elastin breakdown is more prevalent, fine lines and wrinkles start to appear.
As you wander the pharmacy, supermarket or browse online, you will notice how often vitamin C appears in beauty products. When it comes to improving your skin’s appearance, there are two main ways of boosting your vitamin C intake:
- Diet: Including a healthy range of vitamin C rich foods will help support your body’s natural collagen production. Found in leafy greens, citrus, strawberries, blueberries and more, there are a lot of options to choose from. For an extra boost, add a daily supplement into the mix
- Topical creams: Applying vitamin C topically to your skin can help encourage collagen production, all while tackling blemishes and brown spots at the same time
A helping hand
A champion on its own, vitamin C is great at supporting other micronutrients too. On its own, iron struggles to be absorbed by your body, but with vitamin C on its side, your oxygen-carrying red blood cells can function properly.
When we don’t get enough iron into our bodies, the effects on our health can be detrimental. So to avoid anaemia, brittle nails, shortness of breath and fatigue, make sure you are getting all the vitamin C you need. Your iron levels are depending on you too!
Giving your body a healthy vitamin C boost has undeniable benefits. From helping your skin look more radiant to helping you absorb much-needed iron, its definitely one nutrient, you can’t live without!
