Are you getting your daily vitamin C?

Enjoy some vitamin C rich foods every day.

Most people know we need vitamin C daily.  Are you getting the vitamin C you need each day?  Just because a fruit drink is labelled rich in vitamin C, it doesn’t mean it is a healthy choice.  What foods and beverages have vitamin C and why do our bodies need vitamin C?

What is vitamin C?

You may see “vitamin C” on a label or you may see its scientific name, ascorbic acid, on a label.  Our bodies don’t make vitamin C so we must get this important vitamin from the foods we eat or the juices we drink. 

Why do our bodies need vitamin C?

1. Healthy Skin: Vitamin C is important to our bodies in so many ways.  Want healthy skin?  Then eat foods rich in vitamin C as vitamin C helps our bodies boost collagen production.  To make collagen, your body needs vitamin C.  Vitamin C not only supports collagen production, it helps stimulate collagen production.  Vitamin C also protects your skin from damage from the sun.  Kind of like a natural sunscreen.  A study by NIH indicates that improving your vitamin C status may help prevent wrinkles as you age because vitamin C helps with collagen formation. 
2. Wound healing – NIH states,   Of all the effects of vitamin C on skin health, its beneficial effect on wound healing is the most dramatic and reproducible.  Why?  Because vitamin C helps collagen production that is needed when wounds heal.  One study also showed applying a topical vitamin C gel helped with reduction in formation of scars.
3. Antioxidants – vitamin C rich foods are usually also foods rich in antioxidants.  The exception would be fake juice drinks in which vitamin C is added but little real juice is present.  Vitamin C rich foods and juices provide antioxidants that protect our cells from damage. 
4. Cancer – vitamin C helps prevent some cancers and may lower your risk of cancers of the “breast, colon and lung cancers”. 
5. Heart Health -drinking that glass of real OJ every morning may benefit your heart.  NIH studied 85,000 women and found that vitamin C intake helped reduce heart disease.  Other studies have found vitamin C intake reduces your risk of a stroke.  According to Alice Lichtenstein, a nutritionist at Tufts University, “What we do know is that a diet high in fruits and vegetables lowers the risk of heart disease”. 
6. Vision – vitamin C is also good for your eyes.  Getting enough vitamin C each day may help prevent age-related vision issues like macular degeneration and cataracts.  Both of these cause vision loss in older adults. 
7. Colds – remember Linus Pauling who recommended vitamin C for prevention of colds?  Well, vitamin C may not prevent you from getting a cold but it may shorten how long your cold lasts.  NIH notes, “Vitamin C supplements might shorten the duration of the common cold and ameliorate symptom severity in the general population”.  

What foods are good sources of vitamin C?

• Citrus fruits – a great way to get your daily dose of vitamin C is from citrus fruits.  Enjoy a glass of 100% OJ or grapefruit juice at breakfast.  Or a half grapefruit or an orange.  Be sure the juice is real juice and not a fake juice drink (see Are you drinking real juice or fake juice?).     
• Peppers – red bell and green peppers are loaded with vitamin C.  In fact, “a cup of chopped red bell pepper contains nearly three times mor vitamin C than an orange – 190 mg.)   And red bell peppers are a great source of vitamin A, another vitamin that promotes eye health. 
• Broccoli – some people aren’t fans of broccoli but it is a good source of vitamin C.  It is also low in calories at about 30 calories per serving. 
• Strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew – all provide good amounts of vitamin C. 
• Other vegetables – enjoy a baked potato, some cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cooked cabbage, cooked spinach – NIH indicates these are all good sources of vitamin C. 

How are you getting your daily dose of vitamin C?  I drink a glass of real OJ or real grapefruit juice everyday as I want my “C”.  We also enjoy other fruits and vegetables throughout the day.  I even cut up green or red peppers and have a few slices with my sandwich at lunch.  Find some vitamin C rich foods you like and be sure to include them in your day, every day.  Your body doesn’t store vitamin C and doesn’t make vitamin C.  You need vitamin C rich foods in your diet every day.  

 

Sources:  collagen production , NIH , states , cancers , nutritionist , notes , Are you drinking real juice or fake juice? , fact , broccoli , Strawberries, cantaloupe , Other vegetables , Other vegetables   Image sources:  Vitamin C , Vitamin C Skincare   , Vitamin C Foods