4 Impressive Ways Vitamin C Benefits Your Body

– Vitamin C is an essential vitaminwhich means your body doesn’t produce it,you have to eat it. Now for women the recommended intakeis 75 milligrams per dayand for men it’s 90 milligrams per day. Typically you will meet those requirementsif you eat fruit and vegetables regularly. Now in this video I’m lookingat four of the main waysthat vitamin C benefits the body. Number one, helpsprevent iron deficienciesby improving iron absorption. Iron is an important nutrientthat has a variety of functions. It is essential for making red blood cellsand transporting oxygenthroughout the body. Now interestingly,vitamin C can help improvethe absorption of iron from the diet. It assists in converting ironthat is poorly absorbed,such as plant-based sources of iron,into a form that is easier to absorb. This is especially useful forpeople on a meat-free dietas meat is one of ourmain sources of iron. Now what’s interesting isif you just eat 100milligrams of vitamin Cwith an iron containing foodit can increase the absorptionof that iron by up to 70%. As a result we know thatvitamin C supplementationcan reduce the risk of anemiaand people prone to iron deficiency. Number two, fights heartdisease risk factors,potentially lowering heart disease risk. Many factors increaserisk of heart diseaseincluding high blood pressure,high LDL or bad cholesterol,low levels of HDL, good cholesteroland high triglyceride levels. Vitamin C may help reduce these factorswhich may reduce heart disease risk. For example, an analysis of nine studieswith a combined total ofalmost 300,000 participantsfound that after 10 years,people who took at least 700milligrams of vitamin C dailyhad a 25% lower risk of heart diseasethan those who did not takea vitamin C supplement. Interestingly, anotheranalysis of 15 studiesfound that consuming vitamin Conly from foods, not supplements,was linked to a lowerrisk of heart disease. However, scientists are unsure if peoplewho consumed vitamin C-rich foodsalso followed a healthier lifestylethan people who took the supplement. So therefore, it’s not really clearif the differences were due to vitamin Cor other aspects of the diet. It seems like if you consume500 milligrams or moreper day of a vitamin C supplementit can reduce your risk of heart diseaseif you have those risk factors. However, if you already eata diet rich in vitamin Cthen it seems like itwon’t make much difference. Number three, boosts immunityby helping white bloodcells function better. Vitamin C is involved in manyparts of the immune system. First, vitamin C helps encouragethe production of white blood cellsknown as lymphocytes and phagocytes,which help protect thebody against infection. Second, vitamin C helpsthese white blood cellsfunction more effectivelywhile protecting them from damageby potentially harmful molecules,such as free radicals. Third, vitamin C is an essential partof the skin’s defense system. It is actively transported to the skinwhere it can act as an antioxidantto help strengthen the skin’s barriers. Studies have also shownthat taking vitamin Cmay shorten wound healing time. Number four, could reduceblood uric acid levelsand help prevent gout attacks. Gout is a type of painful arthritislike really painful arthritisthat affects about 4%of the US population. Gout symptoms appear when there’s too muchuric acid in the blood. Uric acid is a waste productproduced by the body. At high levels, it may crystallizeand deposit in the joints. Interestingly, several studies have shownthat vitamin C may helpreduce uric acid in the bloodand as a result, protectagainst gout attacks. For example, this study followedalmost 50,000 health men over 20 yearsto see if vitamin C intakewas linked to developing gout. Now interestingly, people whotook a vitamin C supplementhad a 44% lower gout risk. Additionally, an analysisof 13 clinical studiesfound that taking a vitaminC supplement over 30 dayssignificantly reduced blood uric acidcompared to placebo. Although the authors did conclude thatfuture trials are needed to determinewhether vitamin C supplementationcan reduce hyperuricemia whichis high uric acid levels,or prevent incident and recurrent gout. Ultimately, vitamin C is veryimportant for your healthand the majority of us do get enoughfrom a healthy diet. That said, if you are atrisk of iron deficiency,if you have a weak immune systemor if you experiencerecurrent gout attacksthen I would definitely considervitamin C supplementation. Thanks for watching, makesure to give this videoa thumbs up if you found it informative. Don’t forget to subscribe to Healthline’sAuthority Nutrition YouTube channelby clicking the red subscribebutton below this video.