Benefits of Vitamin C

Vitamin C has a number of benefits and uses in human health.

Antioxidant

As a potent antioxidant, vitamin C reduces oxidative stress in your body. Extensive research shows that diets rich in daily vitamin C are associated with a lower risk of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, certain cancers, eye diseases, and neurodegenerative conditions that affect cognitive health. Vitamin C can also regenerate other antioxidants, such as vitamin E, by lowering free radicals formed when vitamin E scavenges oxygen radicals.

White Blood Cells

Vitamin C may also help to promote the production and protection of white blood cells, which help your body fight off infections. This might be especially relevant to COVID-19 because many infected patients have a low white blood cell count when they contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Skin Health

Vitamin C is part of your external defense system as well, as it plays a primary role in the health and integrity of your skin. This is because daily vitamin C is needed to produce collagen, the most abundant protein in your body’s connective tissue. It helps strengthen your skin’s barriers, which is important to fight the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses as well as protect your skin with all of the hand-washing you’re doing. (You are washing your hands a lot, right?)

Iron Absorption

Vitamin C boosts iron absorption, which can help prevent iron deficiency. For instance, eating a combination of tomatoes and lentils, or tomatoes and beans, at the same time, can enhance how much iron you absorb. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that adding 100 mg of vitamin C (as ascorbic acid) to meals boosted iron absorption by 67%.

(Excerpt from The Food Revolution)