Vitamin C:  The Essential Everyday Vitamin Proven to Keep You Healthy

Ascorbic Acid, more commonly known as vitamin C, is an essential nutrient that is crucial to our diets.  Vitamin C must be obtained through the foods we eat, and it is only found in fruits and vegetables and its concentration is highest in fresh, uncooked foods. Vitamin C is one of the least stable vitamins, and cooking can destroy much of this water-soluble vitamin from foods.

Vitamin C research results are greatly inclined to the positive side of its effectiveness in treating many conditions, including the common cold.  Vitamin C is also very important for the alleviation of everyday aches and joint pains.  It’s an important antioxidant that helps to fight off certain bacteria’s that cause colds and flu, and a deficiency can lead to many unwanted side effects.  Of those include:

1. Dry and splitting hair
2. Gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) and bleeding gums
3. Rough, dry, scaly skin
4. Decreased wound-healing rate
5. Easy bruising; nosebleeds
6. Weakened enamel of the teeth
7. Swollen and painful joints
8. Anemia
9. Decreased ability to ward off infection
10. Possibly, weight gain because of slowed metabolic rate and energy expenditure
11. A severe form of vitamin C deficiency is known as scurvy, which mainly affects older, malnourished adults.

Foods that contain the highest levels of vitamin C include:

1. green peppers
2. citrus fruits and juices
3. strawberries
4. tomatoes
5. broccoli
6. turnip greens and other leafy greens
7. sweet and white potatoes,
8. cantaloupe

However all fruits and vegetables do contain some amount of vitamin C, so if you eat a balanced diet, odds are you receiving enough.  Vitamin C is also available in tablet form if you know that you are deficient.