Why vitamin C is valuable? Here is what you need to know.
Food is our survival, our happiness, our best friend, our mood lifter, so much more than we can fully express. When we hear food, there is a radiant smile on our faces, but not when the food is healthy and nutritious. Why?
I guess we all know the answer to that.
A healthy lifestyle is of utmost importance, that one thing everyone wants to have, but at the cost of nothing. Living a healthy lifestyle can be difficult, but it can never be impossible, just like that ambition for which you had to work very hard, but what you got, in the end, was worth every pain you suffered.
After you achieve something, it is very crucial to maintain it. Likewise, we need to preserve our health. Food and nutrition are an integral part of our health. We all are aware of the most critical aspect of what we call ‘healthy’ that is vitamins.
Vitamins are mandatory. We are alert of how necessary it is for our health but not aware of the things it can lead to if not consumed. We all have this tendency to neglect things that are necessary for our health.
Among all the vitamins, there is a vitamin, which we get from something very delicious. Let us find out more about it.
What is Vitamin C?
Vitamins are rich-food substances, which help in the development of our body. Vitamin C plays the role of an antioxidant, is soluble in water, as it is ascorbic acid.
Due to its property of dissolving in water, it is well supplied to our whole body. It does not get stored, so we have to consume vitamin C-rich food sources daily.
Why Vitamin C is Important?
- Helps in protecting cells and tissues of the body
- It helps in boosting our immunity.
- Rapidly heals wounds and infections.
- Helps in maintaining healthy skin.
- Blood pressure remains maintained.
- Absorption of ion becomes easier by consumption of vitamin C
- Prevents certain diseases, such as asthma, cancer, heart disease, eye disease, and bone conditions.
- Beneficial in weight loss
- Maintains physical as well as mental health.
- Helps in maintaining strong hair.
And many more health benefits, above listed are only a few of them, as these are the most common problems we face in our daily life.
What is Deficiency of Vitamin C?
We are certainly not aware of the consequences of not consuming the much-needed, vitamins.
Vitamin C helps us in numerous ways as we have read above. The deficiency is caused, when vitamin C is not consumed appropriately, the condition is known as Scurvy.
Here are some interesting and necessary facts that you need to know about this condition.
What Is Scurvy?
Scurvy is a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C!
When our diet is very low on vitamin C food sources, we are likely to suffer from this disease.
Collagen is one major reason behind this deficiency. Now, what is collagen?
It is a significant component of our body. We all are aware that our body is made up of cells and tissues. One such tissue is connective tissue, the role of these type of tissues is to form a protective and structured layer in the blood vessels and our whole body, to form this type of tissue, and collagen is the component which is needed.
Symptoms of Scurvy
It takes 1 to 3 months for the symptoms to occur. As vitamin C is a necessary nutrient, a lack of vitamin C leads to a lack of iron absorption in the body.
- The Overall weakness in the body.
- Tend to get tired more and easily.
- Arms and legs become sore.
- Body is fatigued
- Rashes over the skin.
- Bleeding of gums
- Bruising
- Causes pain in our upper and lower body
- Swelling in some parts of our body
- Causes ulcers in mouth and loss of teeth
A very healthy, much needed, and essential advice to my readers, if you are going through any of these symptoms for a week it can also be due to several other reasons, kindly don’t jump to any random conclusions.
Note that it takes 1 to 3 months of consistent symptoms, if you still are feeling so, the best thing to do is visit your trusted physician! Get yourself checked and be positive.
How to Prevent Scurvy?
The best preventive measure is to stay healthy and consume vitamin C in enough quantity
Food sources for Vitamin C:
- Citrus fruits like Orange, lemon, papaya, kiwi, strawberries, and blackberries are rich sources of vitamin C
- Tomatoes
- Spinach
- Cabbage
- Potatoes
- Carrots
If you include these in your daily routine, there won’t be anything left for you to be scared about. Not worrying about how much to consume, this seems to be an easy alternative to stay healthy. Just remember to eat clean and fresh!
For the treatment purpose, if you don’t like consuming or are allergic to these food sources, you are advised to take supplements.
After a checkup, your physician will advise you appropriate vitamin C supplement dosage needed for your body!
Direct consumption of supplements in inappropriate dosage should never be encouraged. Usually, we trap ourselves, reading about it somewhere or watching a video. Every human body is different. A Checkup is mandatory before consumption.
