Why Vitamin C Is Important & What it Does To Our Body
Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps protect your cells against the effects of free radicals — molecules produced when your body breaks down food or is exposed to tobacco smoke and radiation from the sun, X-rays or other sources. Free radicals might play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Vitamin C also helps your body absorb and store iron.Most people get enough vitamin C from a healthy diet. Vitamin C deficiency is more likely in people who:
Smoke or are exposed to secondhand smoking
Have certain gastrointestinal conditions or certain types of cancer
Have a limited diet that doesn’t regularly include fruits and vegetables
Severe vitamin C deficiency can lead to a disease called scurvy, which causes anemia, bleeding gums, bruising and poor wound healing.
If you take vitamin C for its antioxidant properties, keep in mind that the supplement might not offer the same benefits as naturally occurring antioxidants in food.
The recommended daily amount of vitamin C is 90 milligrams for adult men and 75 milligrams for adult women.Cancer. Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables might lower your risk of many types of cancer, such as breast, colon and lung cancers. However, it’s not clear whether this protective effect is related to the vitamin C content in the food. Taking oral vitamin C supplements doesn’t appear to offer the same benefit.
Common cold. Taking oral vitamin C supplements won’t prevent the common cold. Evidence also shows that the benefits of regularly taking vitamin C supplements to reduce the duration or severity of a cold are minimal.
Eye diseases. Taking oral vitamin C supplements in combination with other vitamins and minerals seems to prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD) from worsening. Some studies also suggest that people who have higher levels of vitamin C in their diets have a lower risk of developing cataracts.