Vitamin C is one of the essential vitamins that our body needs to function properly and its consumption in the diet is a must. Some popular food sources of vitamin C include fresh vegetable and fruits, particularly citrus fruits. Vitamin C is very important for the body to function and develop in a proper manner. The water-soluble vitamin plays a significant role in promoting immune system functions. Most doctors suggest consuming vitamin C directly from the diet rather than relying on supplements to get the great benefits of the vitamin.
Looking at the history of vitamin C, it was in practice to prevent and treat scurvy, a condition that arises due to vitamin C deficiency. Nowadays, people mostly use vitamin C to prevent and treat the common cold. With advancing research, the researchers report that vitamin C can also treat other ailments like heart diseases, breast cancer, autism, and a lot of other. However, there is no strong scientific evidence that supports the phenomenon of how vitamin C actually treats these health disorders. Fresh oranges and orange juice are among the good sources of vitamin C.
Vitamin C is chemically known as ascorbic acid and is water-soluble in nature meaning that it is dissolvable in water. Vitamin C gets to the boy tissues but does not store well so it is essential to take it daily through foods or supplements. Long before the discovery of vitamin C back in 1932, nutrition experts knew that something in citrus fruits could help in the prevention of scurvy as there were around two million deaths of sailors between years of 1500 and 1800. Vitamin C is crucial for a healthy body as it controls infections and wound healings. It is a powerful antioxidant that helps in the neutralization of free radicals in the body that can otherwise lead to oxidative damage.
In addition, vitamin C involves in the production of collagen which is a fibrous protein present in the connective tissues in a weaving manner among several systems in the body such as bone, blood, immune, and nervous system. It also helps in the production of various chemical messengers or neurotransmitters that work in the nerves and nerves and several hormones. The intestines of the human body attain a limited ability to absorb vitamin C. Researches show that vitamin C absorption decreases to less than 50% when a person takes amounts more than 1000 mg.
In general, healthy individuals do not suffer any toxicity from mega doses of vitamin C as the excess amount of the vitamin excretes in the urine. However, the adverse effects of vitamin C intakes which exceeds than 3000 mg per day are possible to occur and they mostly include diarrhea, kidney diseases, kidney stones, and raised levels of uric acid thus increasing your risk for gout and other diseases. Another possible side effect of vitamin C toxicity includes excess absorption of iron and overload in people with a genetic condition known as hemochromatosis leading to excessive iron in the blood.