When the flu strikes, taking vitamin C supplements is often the first choice to maintain the body’s immune system. Vitamin C can indeed be relied upon to prevent disease. However, did you know that vitamin C has various benefits?
Health benefits of vitamin C
The formation of tissues and the body’s defense system requires the intake of various types of vitamins and minerals. One of the important vitamins that support body functions is vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid.
Vitamin C (another name for ascorbic acid) belongs to the group of water-soluble vitamins. The body is unable to produce and store vitamin C on its own. Therefore, you need to meet your daily vitamin C needs from food intake.
Adequate intake of vitamin C can protect the body from disease. However, this is not the only benefit of vitamin C. Nutrients identical to these fruits are also beneficial for skin tissue, blood circulation, and brain nerves.
Below are the various benefits that you can get from vitamin C.
1. Increase endurance
Vitamin C helps boost immunity by encouraging the production of white blood cells called lymphocytes and phagocytes. As an antioxidant, this vitamin also protects immune cells from free radical damage.
In addition, vitamin C helps strengthen the skin’s defenses. The skin does not only protect the body from the air and the environment. The largest organ of the human body also repel bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that cause disease.
2. Keep skin healthy and firm
Vitamin C can be found in the dermis and epidermis layers of the skin. This is because vitamin C has benefits in maintaining healthy skin. These nutrients promote collagen production and protect skin cells from damage.
Collagen is the main protein that makes up the structure of your skin. Its production can decrease due to aging and free radicals from the environment. Vitamin C is what will help maintain collagen production so that the skin is always healthy.
3. Prevents iron deficiency anemia
Iron deficiency anemia is a disease that occurs when red blood cells don’t have enough iron. In fact, red blood cells need iron to bind oxygen and circulate it throughout the body.
You can prevent this condition by meeting the needs of vitamin C. Ascorbic acid works by increasing the absorption of iron, especially from plant sources where iron is more difficult for the body to absorb.
4. Helps control blood pressure
If you have hypertension, try adding foods rich in vitamin C to your daily menu. The reason is, various studies show that vitamin C intake can help lower blood pressure, even in hypertensive patients.
According to the journal The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vitamin C supplements can lower systolic blood pressure by 4.9 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) and diastolic by 1.7 mmHg. To be more optimal, balance it by reducing salt intake.
5. Lowers cholesterol
Vitamin C has benefits for people with high cholesterol. Several previous studies have found that consuming 500 milligrams of vitamin C per day can reduce LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and triglycerides are ‘bad’ cholesterol that can trigger plaque formation in blood vessels. Vitamin C helps prevent it by keeping levels of both under control.
6. Helps prevent gout
Gout is caused by high uric acid levels in the blood. Uric acid then forms crystals in the joints, causing pain and swelling. Interestingly, ascorbic acid has the potential to prevent this condition.
According to a study, taking vitamin C supplements for 30 days can drastically reduce blood uric acid levels. In fact, people who regularly take vitamin C supplements have a 44% lower risk of developing gout.
7. Lower the risk of chronic disease
Vitamin C has benefits as a natural antioxidant. Antioxidants are substances that protect various body cells from the effects of free radicals. Without antioxidant protection, the body’s cells are more susceptible to damage or harmful mutations.
Cell damage or mutation can cause a number of diseases, ranging from heart disease, hardening of the arteries, to cancer. Intake of vitamin C does not directly prevent the disease, but has the potential to reduce the risk.
8. Accelerate wound healing
Ascorbic acid indirectly plays a role in wound healing. The wound healing process requires a lot of protein, one of which is collagen. If collagen production decreases, the wound will take longer to heal than it should.
Vitamin C stimulates the production, maturation, and release of collagen in injured tissue. This helps accelerate the formation of new tissue that will close the wound. That way, the wound will heal faster.
9. Reduce the risk of eye disease
Intake of vitamin C is believed to have benefits for eye health. One study in the journal Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, for example, revealed that ascorbic acid has the potential to slow down the process of cataracts.
Another study in the same journal also mentions that the intake of vitamin C and minerals helps prevent macular degeneration. This disease occurs when the part of the retina called the macula is damaged.
Known as a vitamin for the immune system, vitamin C actually has a number of benefits that may not be widely known. To get these properties, you only need to add a source of vitamin C to your daily menu.