What does vitamin c do for our bodies?

Vitamin C is a nutrient that we all know about, but many of us have no idea what it does for our bodies. As much as we love to know more about the nutrients in our diets, when it comes to vitamin C there are several things people aren’t aware of. Hopefully by the end of this article you’ll understand and appreciate why vitamin C is so important.

The Basics Of Vitamin C

Before discussing exactly how vitamin C benefits our bodies, let’s first take a quick look at some of its basic characteristics:

  • It’s water-soluble
  • It’s an antioxidant
  • It helps with collagen formation

Water-soluble means that your body doesn’t store it since excess amounts get excreted through urine. Antioxidants help fight damage from free radicals – harmful molecules in our bodies caused by environmental pollution and processes such as aging or inflammation – which can lead to cancer and other diseases (so annoying!). Lastly, collagen plays an essential role in skin health (hello youthful glow!) among other tissues like joints (stiffness be gone!).

Now that you know what vitamin C is all about here’s what you need to know: Many foods contain significant amounts of vitamin c! Isn’t Mother Nature just grand?. Here are some great sources where you can fill up on this sunshiney-nutrient:

Fruits Vegetables
Citrus fruits Red peppers
Kiwi Broccoli
Mangoes Brussel sprouts

This isn’t even close to a comprehensive list because there are so many options out there- try adding a rainbow array of produce into your dishes!

Apart from just having a tasty and varied diet, increasing your intake of vitamin C can be immensely beneficial to your overall health.

Helps Improve Immune System Function

No one likes being sick! Although colds may seem inevitable eating lots of vitamin c-rich foods (especially when you feel under the weather) can help strengthen your immune system. It helps white blood cells function better helping fight off infections with ease.

Provides Relief From Stress

Who among us hasn’t felt like their stress levels were through the roof at some point? Vitamin C is an absolute lifesaver in those moments since it assists in keeping stress hormone cortisol levels from skyrocketing – essential for happy moods!

Good For Eye Health

Eating adequate amounts of fruits and veggies that contain vitamin-C might also safeguard against potentially degenerative eye problems including age-related macular degeneration and cataracts (bring on boring eye checkups!).

Though it’s not known to be toxic, as mentioned earlier this nutrient is water-soluble meaning excess gets excreted through urine…which isn’t desirable when dear ol’ bladder starts protesting. To keep things flowing smoothly Here are suggested daily amounts:

  • Adult women: 75 mg
  • Adult men: 90 mg
  • Those who smoke need an additional 3rd round amount recommended because smoking impairs absorption

After you hit ‘max-vitamin-c-capacity’ body wise consuming more won’t do anything that benefits our bodies but don post-veggie binges over worrying about hitting max capacity (it’s O-K-A-Y if you go over once in a while-we’ve all been there). You want to strive for keeping variety within limit bounds consistently! And stay hydrated always!

To wrap up if nothing else comes out sounding memorable from this article I hope the fact that vitamin C packs goodness for a variety of functions is taken away. Adding citrus fruits or kiwi to breakfast may have more benefits than sunshine could offer! Remember, it’s not only about vitamin C- we loving all kinds of nutrients in our produce bundles since the fun and flavors are endless!

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