Vitamin C Benefits You Should Know
When you think of Vitamin C, what do you think of? Most people will say “citrus fruit” or “boosting the immune system,” and both answers are right! But there’s a lot more Vitamin C benefits that people aren’t aware of. It plays a critical role in many bodily functions that keep us healthy. Unfortunately, a good portion of the population is depleted or deficient in Vitamin C. Insufficient amounts of this micronutrient can have disastrous effects on the body (scurvy, anyone?). While most of us do have enough access to food sources to avoid the extreme deficiency that our seafaring ancestors once dealt with, we may not be getting optimal levels. That means we’re leaving many health benefits on the table! Let’s talk about a few of them.
What Exactly Is Vitamin C?
This micronutrient is also called ascorbic acid, which you may see on food labels. It’s a water soluble vitamin that helps our immune system and neutralizes free radicals. In simpler terms, the body needs it for fighting infections (including healing wounds) and to prevent cell damage by environmental factors (sun, pollution, etc). A substance that protects against free radicals is called an antioxidant. We’ll talk more about the antioxidant properties of Vitamin C a bit later. Because it’s water soluble, it gets absorbed into the tissues and “used up.” The body doesn’t store much of it, which means it needs to be replenished daily through food, supplements, or other methods.
Vitamin C Benefits
In addition to supporting immune function, Vitamin C is also involved in:
Tissue growth/repair
Iron absorption
Protection from free radicals
Healthy skin, cartilage, blood vessels
Cardiovascular health
As you can see, it’s important to many aspects of our health. Specifically, we want to focus on the antioxidant properties because many people do not have sufficient levels to really maximize this power. At lower levels, Vitamin C keeps the ship sailing so to speak, but at higher levels we can see remarkable improvement in conditions related to free radical exposure. For anyone struggling with immune or inflammatory conditions, we often suggest IV infusions of Vitamin C. This can rapidly increase your blood concentration far better than oral intake or supplementation. It goes directly into the blood where it can work right away. As a result, many people report a reduction in symptoms.
If you’d like to learn more about Vitamin C infusions and whether you might be a good candidate, schedule an appointment with us.