Vitamin C Supplements
Vitamin C is an essential vitamin that must be consumed in the diet. Good sources include fresh fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits.
Vitamin C is definitely an essential nutrient with important health benefits and has many roles in the body
Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, most famously delivers a key boost to the immune system.
“Vitamin C supports the production of proteins, called interferons, that protect cells from viral attack,” Pasiakos explains. “Vitamin C also enhances the function of white blood cells, specifically phagocytes, that help engulf pathogens, and stimulate the activity of other immune cells to fight off infections.”
The body also uses vitamin C to form collagen, an important protein that helps to build bones, muscles, and strong blood vessels that protect against heart disease and stroke. Collagen is also essential for your skin—as a building block in the connective tissues that heal wounds and form scar tissue and well as to prevent sagging, wrinkling, dark spots, and acne. That’s why vitamin C is commonly used in skin care products. There is some evidence to show that vitamin C can even help protect from harmful effects of the sun when used in conjunction with sunscreen.
Vitamin C plays an intriguing role as an antioxidant, a compound that neutralizes free radicals in the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules with an odd number of electrons, prone to stealing electrons from the molecules in blood, skin, and other cells, damaging them and possibly contributing to the formation of diseases like cancer and heart disease.
Because vitamin C and other antioxidants also have an odd number of electrons, they can absorb a free radical’s unpaired electron to prevent it from causing cell damage.
Finally, vitamin C helps make chemical messengers and hormones that are important in the brain and nervous system including possible roles in reducing stress and anxiety. Researchers are also investigating its role in warding off cataracts or delaying their progression, and lowering uric acid levels that trigger gout.