VITAMIN C

Most of us basically know that we need Vitamin C in our diet. Let us see what the benefits of Vitamin C are:

• Scientifically controlled studies show that using vitamin C for colds can reduce the severity of cold symptoms, acting as a natural antihistamine. 
• The vitamin may be useful for allergy control for the same reason: It may reduce histamine levels. By giving the immune system one of the important nutrients it needs, extra vitamin C can often shorten the duration of the cold as well.
•  As an important factor in collagen production
• Vitamin C is useful in wound healing of all types. From cuts and broken bones to burns and recovery from surgical wounds, vitamin C taken orally helps wounds to heal faster and better. Applied topically, vitamin C may protect the skin from free radical damage after exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays.   

• Vitamin C makes the headlines when it comes to cancer prevention. 
• Its antioxidant properties protect cells and their DNA from damage and mutation. It supports the body's immune system, the first line of defense against cancer, and prevents certain cancer-causing compounds from forming in the body. Vitamin C reduces the risk of getting almost all types of cancer. It appears that this nutrient doesn't directly attack cancer that has already occurred, but it helps keep the immune system nourished, enabling it to battle the cancer.
• As an antioxidant, vitamin C helps to prevent cataracts.
• The clouding of the lens of the eye that can lead to blindness in older adults. The lens needs a lot of vitamin C to counteract all the free radicals that form as a result of sunlight on the eye. Vitamin C is concentrated in the lens. When there's plenty of this vitamin floating through your system, it's easy for the body to pull it out of your blood and put it into the lens, protecting it from damage. It's possible that 1,000 mg per day of vitamin C might stop cataracts in their tracks and possibly improve vision.
• Reduce athma. Asthmatics tend to have higher needs for vitamin C because of its antioxidant function in the lungs and airways. Doses of 1,000 to 2,000 mg per day improve asthmatic symptoms and lessen the body's production of histamine, which contributes to inflammation.
• People with diabetes can benefit from extra vitamin C, too. This nutrient can help regulate blood sugar levels.
  • Since insulin helps vitamin C, as well as glucose, get into cells, people with diabetes may not have enough vitamin C inside many of their cells. Just like glucose, vitamin C can't do its work if it's not inside of a cell. Supplementing vitamin C can force it into body cells, where it can protect against the many complications of diabetes.A dose of 1,000 to 3,000 mg per day drives down glycosylated hemoglobin levels. This means that glucose molecules don't attach to blood cells. Glucose adhering to red blood cells is responsible for many diabetic complications such as poor wound healing, problems with capillaries, and sluggish circulation.
• As with the other antioxidants, vitamin C helps to prevent heart disease by preventing free radicals from damaging artery walls, which could lead to plaque formation. 
  • This nutrient also keeps cholesterol in the bloodstream from oxidizing, another early step in the progression towards heart disease and stroke. Vitamin C may help people who have marginal vitamin C status to obtain favorable blood cholesterol levels. High blood pressure may also improve in the presence of this wonder vitamin. All these factors combined make vitamin C an inexpensive and easy way to lower one's risk of heart disease and strokes.

These are just some of the conditions in which vitamin C has provided significant results. There are many other health conditions in which vitamin C plays a role and has been helpful. For instance, treating preeclampsia in pregnant women, increasing sperm counts especially in smokers, and treating Parkinson's disease, autoimmune disorders, andperiodontal disesase.

Now, let us look at how many of us took Vitamin C supplements? Do you look at the label of the ingredients or contents? If you take a look at a variety of vitamin C supplements, you will find that majority of them contain only ascorbic acid or a compound called ascorbate, which is a less acidic form of ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is NOT vitamin C. It represents the outer ring that serves as a protective shell for the entire vitamin C complex, much like an orange peel that serves as a protective shell for an orange. Real Vitamin C found in whole foods like fruits and vegetables contain the following components:

• Rutin
• Bioflavonoids (vitamin P)
• Factor K
• Factor J
• Factor P
• Tyrosinase
• Ascorbinogen
• Ascorbic Acid

When you take only ascorbic acid found in your synthetic vitamin C tablet or powder, your body must gather all of the other components of the full vitamin C complex from your body’s tissues in order to make use of it. In the event that your body does not have adequate reserves of the other components, ascorbic acid itself does not provide any of the health benefits that the full vitamin C complex does. After circulating through your system, the unused ascorbic acid is eliminated through your urine.

Just like vitamin C, almost all other vitamins that we know of offer their full health benefits when they are in the presence of a number of enzymes, co-enzymes, co-factors, and even minerals. The mineral copper is needed for full vitamin C activity to provide its health promoting, anti-oxidative effect. Clearly, it is best to get your vitamins from whole foods because whole foods provide complete vitamins rather than fractions of them. In many cases, whole foods also provide the minerals that are necessary for optimal vitamin activity.

If the list of ingredients includes a vitamin like "Vitamin C” rather than an actual food that contains natural vitamin C like “acerola cherry concentrate”, you can bet that it does not contain the Real Vitamin C.

If you choose to use nutritional supplements, it is in your best interest to use only those products that list actual foods as their ingredients rather than synthetic and isolated vitamins. While some synthetic and isolated vitamins have been shown to provide minimal health benefits, on the whole, most of them cause more harm than good and you are far better off spending your money on whole foods.

Below is some example of  Vitamin C ingredients from different brands.

Make the right choie of supplement if you decide to have it to supple your nutritions. The best is to take lots of fruits and vegetables. If you don't and you think that you might not get enough Vitamin C, then get yourself the correct Vitamin C.