We have all heard about vitamin C and it doesn’t usually bring a huge amount of excitement. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the latest health trend or ‘superfood’ but sometimes it is important to remember that the basic things are sometimes the most profound.

Vitamin C or ascorbic acid, is in many natural foods. Every cell in our body needs it to function normally. It’s long been known that vitamin C is necessary for our health and it’s essential in preventing Scurvy. In fact, the reason that the British sometimes get referred to as ‘Limeys’ by Americans, is because our navy used to carry around citrus fruits (including limes) on ships to give to their sailors in order to prevent scurvy. We knew long ago that the high amount of vitamin C in the citrus fruits was important. Scurvy now is very rare, but remarkably the cases in the UK have doubled since 2010.

Not only is vitamin C needed for normal collagen formation for the normal functioning of blood vessels, bones, cartilage, gums, skin and teeth but it is involved in the immune system, protects the cells from oxidative stress, aids the reduction of tiredness/fatigue and helps with iron absorption. That’s a whole lot of uses.

So how can we get optimal amounts of vitamin C?

Consuming multiple foods that contain vitamin C throughout the whole day is best ie. drip-feeding. This is because we can’t make our own vitamin C. Amazingly, animals can make their own vitamin C from glucose! Sadly we lost this ability a long time ago, so we do need to consume it, every day, preferably multiple times per day.

Highest sources of vitamin C:

· Kiwis and lemons

· Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower

· Strawberries, bell peppers, tomatoes

One often forgets about the valiant vitamin C, but I think it’s more marvellous than we give it credit for.

Written by Rosie Rayner, ND

REFERENCES:

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-c/