Why is vitamin C good for you?

Women diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to survive if they take large doses of vitamin C. Swedish nutritionists at the Karolinska Institutet concluded this after carrying out a meta-study in 2014.

Performing endurance sports reduces testosterone levels.  Pharmacologists at the BJ Govt Medical College in India in 2014 did a study to limit the reduction of testosterone level with vitamin C.

A study at Arizona State University found  that training resistance can be overcome by taking a supplement containing vitamin C. Vitamin C also possesses neuroprotective properties and influences the brain’s oxidative fuel supply, processes that may influence a sense of wellbeing.

The more vitamin C there is in your blood as you age, the stronger your muscles will be, report Japanese epidemiologists in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences in 2012. In 2009 Canadian researchers discovered a similar effect in elderly people who do weight training build.

Most of people think they consume enough vitamin C, but they forget that large amounts of the vitamin are lost during food processing, says nutritionist Carol Johnston. A vitamin C deficiency reduces the body’s synthesis of L-carnitine, an amino acid that the body needs to burn fat.

Korean researchers say that a vitamin C analogue may help prevent androgenic hair loss. The study was done in 2010 at Kyungpook National University. DHT – the androgenic testosterone metabolite – boosts the production of the protein DKK-1 which causes hair loss, but vitamin C prevents this. (See How to slow down the greying of hair?)

A study was made in 2008 which showed that fattening up rats with junk food is more difficult if you give them vitamin C at the same time, researchers at the University of Navarra in Spain discovered.

In humans, vitamin C is essential to a healthy diet as well as being a highly effective antioxidant, acting to lessen oxidative stress and an enzyme cofactor for the biosynthesis of many important biochemicals. Vitamin C acts as an electron donor for important enzymes.

Vitamin C slows the growth of cancer cells, and has been found to help quell the production of cancer-causing substances nitrosamines. A study published in the International Journal of Cancer found that high vitamin C intake reduced the risk of stomach cancer by about half.

Vitamin C is an antioxidant and it can help prevent cataracts. Cataract is the clouding of the lens of the eye that can lead to blindness in older adults. The eye lens needs a lot of vitamin C to counteract the free radicals that form as a result of sunlight on the eye.

Vitamin C is required for the production of collagen, a protein present in connective tissues of the body below the skin. Because of that, it is helpful in healing wounds of all types, it speeds up the healing process and helps recover faster. (See How long does it take for Wounds with stitches to heal?)

Vitamin C boosts the conversion of cholesterol to bile salts which can be easily eliminated from the body. Taking more vitamin C will lower the cholesterol in the person’s blood.

A German study found that the blood levels of vitamin C, beta-carotene and lycopene were extremely low in patients with mild dementia. This suggests that increasing intake of vitamin C reduces the progression of dementia and other neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.

A study found that vitamin C reduced bronchoconstriction – narrowing of airways, caused by rigorous physical activity and exercise. Brochoconstriction can cause symptoms such as cough, wheezing and the shortness of breath. The study was made in University of Helsinki (Finland).

People suffering from asthma benefit from a lot of vitamin C. As the vitamin is an antioxidant and antihistamine, it improves the function of lungs and airways. Researches found found that a dose of 1,000 to 2,000 mg per day reduced the production of histamines, which contribute to asthma symptoms.

One of the studies found that vitamin C can kill the bacteria causing tuberculosis. The study was published in Nature communications. This antibacterial potential of vitamin C still needs to be tested on humans.

The current recommended daily intake for men is 90 mg and for women it is 75 mg.

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