Your diet needs to supply 13 key vitamins in just the right amounts to keep you at optimal health. Vitamin C is one of the most widely known vitamins thanks to its reputation for boosting your immune system, but it does so much more than just that. It’s also surprisingly easy to not get enough in your diet or deplete what you do intake with unhealthy practices like smoking.
Getting the right amount of this vitamin through proper nutrition and careful supplementation will help you in these six ways and more.
1. Youthful and Healthy Skin
Preserving your skin’s youthful beauty isn’t just a moment of vanity. Ignoring your the health of your epidermis can leave you facing skin cancer and other serious conditions. Vitamin C plays a large role in the development of collagen inside the body, the stretchy ingredient that makes your skin resilient enough to resist wrinkling. A lack of the vitamin can result in you developing those fine lines and wrinkles before your time. Even if you don’t care about that, you should care that Vitamin C also helps prevent cancer-triggering sun damage from accumulating by dealing with UV-triggered free radicals since it’s such a powerful antioxidant.
2. A Strong Heart
Vitamin C helps protect the heart in multiple ways. First, diets rich in this vitamin are positively linked to a reduced risk of developing most cardiovascular diseases. This includes heart disease, atherosclerosis, and even cardiovascular triggered strokes. Taking Vitamin C helps prevent the bad cholesterol known as LDL from being damaged in the body, which is a large reason why it tends to stick and build up in the arteries. You won’t notice lower blood cholesterol levels from supplementation alone, but you can rest assured at least that the amount of damage done by cholesterol is lessened when you’re getting plenty of Vitamin C.
3. Workout Recovery
Since Vitamin C is necessary for your body to synthesize its own supply of collagen, athletes and gym lovers also need to pay attention to their levels. Collagen production is an important part of muscle recovery, so a lack of it will cause your workouts to leave you more sore and weak than usual. A proper balance of Vitamin C in the body speeds recovery time and helps you get the most gain out of each workout. Collagen is also necessary for stretchy ligaments and tendons, so keeping your vitamins balanced may prevent injury as well.
4. Preventing the Cold
Boosting your immune system to prevent infection of the common cold and flu virus is Vitamin C’s most well-known function. Extensive studying has shown that people in stressful environments, such as skiers spending all day out in the cold, are less likely to get sick when they’re taking a Vitamin C supplement. The vitamin only shortens an existing illness by about a day, so it’s best to start taking while you’re healthy rather than hoping it will reverse your symptoms after you fall ill.
5. Osteoarthritis
Returning again to the collagen synthesis process, you’ll also protect your joints from the inflammation and pain of osteoarthritis (OA) by getting enough Vitamin C. The cartilage cushioning your joints breaks down as you age, but a lack of collagen production only speeds up that process. This leaves the joints grinding together rather than gliding smoothly over the cushions. Vitamin supplementation can help both long before you receive an OA diagnosis and after you’re dealing with the problem. It may also help prevent the condition due to its antioxidant effect that removes free radicals, but it’s not entirely clear what role free radicals play in joint deterioration just yet.
6. Macular Degeneration
Finally, you also owe your good eyesight in part to Vitamin C as well. Macular Degeneration (MD) linked to aging is the most common cause in blindness among the elderly, but it’s not an inevitable part of aging. Research shows that people already losing their sight to MD respond well to a combination of zinc, Vitamin E, and Vitamin C. You’ll need a doctor to balance the vitamins properly and to make sure the high dose of zinc is not having an adverse effect on the rest of your body.
Contact The IV Therapy Specialists At Prime Wellness for Your Vitamin C Shot Today!
Looking for the best possible source of Vitamin C? Try the Ultra Potent-C supplement from Metagenics. Buffering prevents an upset stomach, even when taking high daily doses, while the unique optimization process encourages higher rates of absorption than you get with plain ascorbic acid. We have the full line of Metagenics products available here at Prime Wellness and can advise you in the best ways to combine them with other crucial vitamins and minerals.