A Guide to the C Vitamin

The C vitamin has got to be the most widely known vitamin these days. It is not surprising because the body needs C vitamin for over 300 functions. In fact, the c vitamin has been proved to help protect against heart disease, cancer and other serious illnesses. Without the C vitamin the body would not be able to heal itself either. This is because the C vitamin is vital for the formation of collagen. Whenever a person has a cut or an injury it is the collagen that helps repair the damage and without sufficient C vitamin this would be almost impossible. Collagen has a multitude of functions in the body, including keeping the organs in place, and it would not be able to do this without sufficient C vitamin.

The C vitamin is also an antioxidant for the body and helps other vitamins and minerals to be absorbed better. Folic acid and iron, for example, need the C vitamin to maximise their usefulness. The more C vitamin that the body has, the better its defence against colds and other common ailments and the C vitamin may not prevent a person catching a virus but it does help speed up the recovery process.

There is C vitamin in almost every fruit and vegetable but some have far higher c vitamin content than others. Cranberries and melons have high C vitamin content. In fact, tropical fruits have the highest C vitamin amounts of all fruit. Hot peppers are amongst the richest sources of the C vitamin when it comes to vegetables. The hotter the pepper, the higher its C vitamin content is. Unfortunately, the C vitamin is water soluble so many vegetables lose their effectiveness as a C vitamin provider if they are boiled for a long time. Steaming or quick stir frying vegetables ensures that more of their C vitamin content is retained. The recommended daily amount of the C vitamin is easily obtained from eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day if they are consumed raw or cooked quickly.

C vitamin supplements are extremely useful to ensure that people obtain sufficient c vitamin. However, with a balanced diet the amount of c vitamin the body receives is likely to be sufficient. However, if a person begins feeling tired or lethargic then a c vitamin supplement will help overcome this. There is no danger of having too much c vitamin as the body simply excretes the excess.