Vitamin C, also referred to as ascorbic acid, is a well-known vitamin with many health benefits. From bolstering your immune system to keeping your skin and eyes healthy, vitamin C is an essential component of everyone’s overall health and wellness.
Over the decades, more and more research has been conducted on the benefits of this vitamin. Some of them may surprise you!
7 Benefits of Vitamin C
Boosts Immune System
Vitamin C can improve your immune system by encouraging the production and function of white blood cells. These white blood cells are critical in combating sickness and infection entering your body.
The benefits are notable enough that New York hospitals even used vitamin C to treat patients diagnosed with COVID-19.
Improves Your Skin
The benefits of vitamin C promote collagen production, which is vital to healthy skin. This boost can lead to quicker healing of wounds and decreased skin damage from sun exposure due to its antioxidant properties.
Reduces Risk of Heart Disease
Vitamin C is great for your circulatory system and can help prevent many cardiovascular issues, including heart attack and stroke.
With cardiovascular disease being the leading cause of death in America, it’s more important than ever to maintain your heart’s health.
Slows Down Cold Symptoms
Research shows that people who take vitamin C supplements have colds that last fewer days and experience less severe symptoms.
Improves Iron Absorption
Maintaining healthy vitamin C levels can promote the absorption of iron—particularly iron from plant-based foods. This benefit can be particularly beneficial to people with iron deficiencies such as anemia or vegetarians who maintain a plant-based diet.
Vitamin C Benefits Your Eyesight
Taking vitamin C can prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD) from worsening over time. Studies have also found that individuals who have higher levels of vitamin C in their diets have a lower risk of developing cataracts.
Enhances Cognitive Function
Numerous scientific studies have found a strong relationship between vitamin C and mental function. Not only is vitamin C found to promote a healthy brain, but also improves cognitive function as well (critical thinking, problem-solving, etc.)
Oranges are a great natural source of Vitamin C
Which Foods Have a High Volume of Vitamin C?
Fortunately, finding vitamin C isn’t hard to do when you pay close attention to your diet. If you eat a large number of fruits and vegetables, you likely have a decent volume of vitamin C already!
That said, if you’re thinking of adding, even more, you’ll want to consider the following foods for your weekly diet.
Citrus Fruits
These fruits are well-known for having extremely high percentages of vitamin C. Oranges, grapefruits, and lemons are all places you can start.
Consider incorporating more orange juice into your diet (ideally organic orange juice with less added sugar). Likewise, you can also try making homemade lemonade for the hot weather.
Broccoli
This vegetable is often best known for its iron and fiber count. Believe it or not, broccoli has quite a bit of vitamin C.
How you cook your broccoli will go a long way in getting the most nutrients. Instead of boiling the vegetable, try steaming or stir-frying it instead. Boiling vegetables drain out essential vitamins and minerals (hence why the water will turn green).
Bell Peppers
Speaking of stir fry! If you like putting together noodle or rice dishes, consider adding more red and green bell peppers to your diet.
These vegetables have trace amounts of protein and a ton of vitamin C. You can’t go wrong adding a few slices of these to your dinners!
Red Cabbage
If you want to shake things up further, consider adding red cabbage to your stir-fry or salad dishes. These rich red vegetables are bursting with fiber, vitamin K, and vitamin C.
Potatoes
Last but not least, try to eat more potatoes. These starchy vegetables are very filling, energizing, and give you a good amount of vitamin C.
A single medium-sized potato will give you around 70% of your daily recommended amount of vitamin C. As stated above, try to fry, roast, or steam your vegetables instead of boiling. It’s hard to get the benefits of vitamin C when you lose nutrients while cooking!
Related: Here’s Why Consistency is the Key to your Health: The Truth About Why You Need Regular IV Therapy
Gone are the days of only relying on supplements to pad out your diet. IV treatments are a reliable resource that can boost your immune system or bring you more energy.
What Happens If You Take Too Much Vitamin C?
Is there such a thing as too much vitamin C? Absolutely. Too much of any mineral or nutrient will backfire and make you notice some unwelcome side effects.
Consuming too much vitamin C is difficult to do unless you’re taking far too many supplements. The daily recommended amount of vitamin C for the average adult is 75 mg to 90 mg per day. You might be exceeding your vitamin C limit if you notice the following issues:
Constant Nausea
Your vitamin C count needs to be absorbed gradually by the body. When you have a lot of vitamin C leftover, you might feel nauseous.
Throwing Up
Have you tried a new vitamin C regimen, only to find yourself throwing up? It’s time to cut back. Throwing up is not just uncomfortable, but can leave you dehydrated.
Diarrhea
On a similar note, diarrhea can also leave you dehydrated and fatigued. If you notice strange bowel movements after changing your diet, consider removing the supplements or cutting back on citrus fruits.
Since vitamin C absorption isn’t always reliable through food and supplements, IV treatments can fill the gap.
Related: The Benefits of Vitamin B-12
Enjoying Lemons can help get benefits of Vitamin C
Why Doesn’t Vitamin C Always Get Absorbed By The Body?
A tricky aspect of vitamin C is the inconsistency with which it’s absorbed by the body. For example, you can take your 100% recommended daily amount of vitamin C, but only absorb 70% of it.
A person who takes one gram of vitamin C per day may lose the rest of the vitamin C every time they go to the bathroom. This phenomenon is due to the body needing time to metabolize and convert the ascorbic acid.
This fact isn’t a sign you need to take too much vitamin C or drink less water. Maintaining a healthy diet and using tools such as vitamin C IVs will ensure you’ve always got a steady amount.
Related: Help Manage Acid Reflux Symptoms with Vitamins
Maximize Your Vitamin C Absorption
When people think of boosting their vitamin C intake, they often think of taking supplements orally. However, depending on the dosage, oral consumption of vitamin C can have an absorption rate of less than 50%. Fortunately, there are new and improved ways to boost your vitamin C—taking it through an IV.
Prime IV offers numerous IV drips specifically formulated to improve your health and wellness—including an immunity booster with a powerful dose of vitamin C. Taking vitamins and nutrients intravenously puts them directly into your system and bypasses the less efficient absorption of the stomach, providing the maximum benefit possible.
Also, instead of waiting hours for supplements to digest, our IVs take 30-60 minutes and you are back on the road to peak health and immunity!
Do you worry about vitamin or nutrient deficiencies? Visit us today to enjoy the benefits of IV treatment.
