“Higher blood levels of vitamin C may be the ideal nutrition marker for overall health.”
~ Mark Moyad, MD, MPH of University of Michigan
Vitamin C is essential to repairing and maintaining bones, teeth and cartilage. It’s needed to form collagen – a protein that’s used to make skin, cartilage and blood vessels. Vitamin C is vital for the repair and growth of tissues, and helping to heal wounds.
Vitamin C is also an antioxidant, and can help protect against some of the damage caused by free radicals. The build up of these by-products over time is largely responsible for the aging process and can contribute to the development of various health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and a host of inflammatory conditions like arthritis. Antioxidants also help reduce the damage to the body caused by toxic chemicals and pollutants such as cigarette smoke.
Where do we get vitamin C?
We get vitamin C from fruits and vegetables. Some of the highest sources of vitamin C are citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, leafy greens and sweet potatoes.
Other sources of vitamin C include cauliflower, brussel sprouts, watermelon, blueberries, raspberries, cabbage, mango and pineapples.
Too little vitamin C can lead to signs and symptoms of deficiency, including:
- Dry and splitting hair
- Gingivitis (inflammation of the gums)
- Bleeding gums
- Rough, dry, scaly skin
- Decreased wound-healing rate
- Easy bruising
- Nosebleeds
- Weakened tooth enamel
- Swollen and painful joints
- Anemia
- Decreased ability to fight infection
- Possible weight gain because of slowed metabolism
What are the benefits of vitamin C?
Vitamin C is a staple when it comes to colds, but it provides many more benefits.
Bone Health
Vitamin C plays an essential part in calcium absorption and the utilization of calcium in bone metabolism.
Researchers have also found that supplementing with vitamin C can increase bone mineral density in older women and decrease bone loss in older men. Vitamin C also plays an important role in maintaining healthy bone mass.
Heart Health
Higher vitamin C levels in the blood are associated with a lower risk of heart disease. Plus, supplementing with vitamin C is more effective in preventing heart attacks than beta-blockers alone. In a 16-year study, researchers also found that women who supplemented with vitamin C reduced the risk of heart disease by 28%.
Skin Aging
Researchers examined the links between the aging of skin and nutrient intake in over four thousand women, and found that higher intakes of vitamin C are associated with a lower rate of wrinkles and dry skin.
Stroke
Researchers followed a group of over twenty thousand people for a decade and found that people with the highest concentrations of vitamin C had a 42% lower risk of stroke than those with the lowest concentrations.
Diabetes
Vitamin C deficiencies have been linked with metabolic syndrome.
In addition, insulin negotiates the entry of vitamin C into cells, and it turns out that diabetics have insufficient levels of vitamin C in their cells even when dietary intake exceeds recommended levels. Because of this, some researchers suggest that supplementing with vitamin C might be a requirement for diabetics.
Diabetics that supplemented with 500 mg of vitamin C a day improved arterial stiffness and lowered blood pressure, while those that supplemented with 1000 mg of each day showed a decrease in blood glucose and lipids.
Rag Tag Research Geek Recommendation
Vitamin C has a lot more to offer than simply helping with the common cold. Vitamin C plays a vital role in calcium absorption, as well as helping our hearts, defending against wrinkles, and helping with diabetes.
The Calciology™ & Foundation™ Combo delivers 1500 MG of Vitamin C per day, along with other synergistic ingredients for maximum bioutility.
I just found your website and was very excited about your work, until i come across your findings on Vitamin c
im very confused on your take on Vit C Geek 7 ? you have been to the vitamincfoudation.org web page (the history of Vitamin C and its uses intravenously and oral, its history how it is made,the different forms. the sources, and who has the patents) etc). and then your response to the question on Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C. (Liposomal nutrition is the biggest leap forward in this field in recent memory. Tests taken on humans indicated that liposomal vitamin C, for example, was absorbed at a rate of almost 90% as compared to regular vitamin C – absorbed at a rate of 19%. This is not only the most convenient but the most practical.) Im a sorry to be so critical of you but in general(woefully lacking of information the vitamin foundation offers you)
IT IS THE DEFINITIVE VITAMIN C WEBSITE WITH AT LEAST 10 ASCORBIC ACID EXPERTS. I am not talking about the intravenous aspect of vit c (you could at least offer that information for your members and fans)again i truly apologize to you and your group of reserchers but i truly want your group to be all-stars. You might want to research this site
http://www.letstalkhealth.com/Liposomal-Vitamin-C-16oz-p/624.htm
Ozz
Hi Ozz. Thank you so much for sharing this additional information on Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C! I am certain that your knowledge will help many other people concerned about getting the most from the supplements they take. As for me, I will continue to improve my researching skills. Best of luck to you on your journey to better health!
I’m trying to sort out some information I have come across on vitamin C. What are your thoughts on the following statements:
1) Most vitamin C is corn-based. If the label doesn’t specify some other source (like cassava, tapioca, or Sago Palm for instance), then the source is probably corn.
2) Most corn-based vitanin C comes from GMO corn.
3) Ascorbic acid by itself is not Vitamin C (like an eggshell is not a whole egg).
4) “Whole food vitamins” are superior to other types.
Thank you!
Hi debwings. I understand your concerns with questions 1 & 2. I have a blog where I talk a lot about GMOs at rtrgeek5.com. As someone who has taken a Vitamin C supplement daily for at least a fifteen years, I too am concerned about corn-based Vitamin C coming from crops where genetically modified organisms are used. You’re right, most Vitamin C these days is corn-based. While many supplement makers, acknowledging letters they get from customers concerned about GMO corn, and seeing the success of the organic food industry, would love to sell non-GMO vitamin C, at this time its practically impossible to know what corn-based Vitamin C contains GMO corn and what doesn’t. Testing for the presence of genetic modifications hasn’t been perfected yet. In fact, current product testing can’t even confirm the type of plant the ascorbic acid is derived from!
Here’s a source for some good info you may find interesting: http://www.organicconsumers.org/Organic/vitccontro.cfm. If you have a corn allergy, I believe Twin Lab markets a Sago Palm Vitamin C product but if you’re someone who has trouble digesting certain fruits and vegetables, or have stomach tolerance issues with medications containing aspirin, you may have a salicylate intolerance or allergy and should ideally stay away from Sago Palm.
To answer questions 3 & 4 depends on whether you are a naturalist, wanting natural foods and natural supplements, or if you believe in science. Proponents of whole food vitamins have picked apart the conclusions of Linus Pauling for years with the argument that ascorbic acid by itself isn’t Vitamin C. They say that ascorbic acid is merely a part of naturally occurring vitamin C, albeit a critical part that protects other components from oxidation. They claim that ascorbic acid must be synthetically combined with other components for effectiveness.
This is contradictory to the findings of Pauling and people like Robert Cathcart, MD and Thomas Levy, who point out that ascorbate acid, and it alone, can prevent and shorten the duration of a common cold, can be injected intravenously to control and kill off viral infections and cancer cells, and help detoxify the body of heavy metals. I would recommend reading http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/NaturalC.pdf to come to your own conclusion.
Personally, I’ve taken an ascorbate acid Vitamin C supplement for years. And I can attest that I’ve seldom had a severe cold in 15 years, and when I have, it can usually be traced back to skipping supplementation for several weeks, since I tend to take breaks from anything I take daily. Hope this helps and let us know if you have any other questions.
Any information available on Lypo-Spheric Vitamine C ?
Thank You
Hi Jollyfert. Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C uses Liposmal Encapsulation Technology (LET) to encapsulate the Vitamin C in phospholipids that are essential for the repair and maintenance of every cell in the human body. This encapsulation increases the bio-availability of your dose to approximately 98% (as opposed to the 15% bio-availability of the same sized dose of traditional Vitamin C) by using nano technology. There are many claims out there that Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C is a powerful Anti-Aging supplement.
Best of luck to you on your healthful journey!
What is the best form of vitamin C to take?
Well there is debate about this, but from the evidence we’ve seen ascorbic acid is just as effective as other forms, and much easier to find.