Deficiency Diseases and Good Nutrition
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
Scurvy, the disease caused from a lack of Vitamin C, was rampant many years ago among sailors. Around the year 1600, citrus fruits were introduced to cure the disease. Wonderful! More background on the story shows that mainly the poor sailors got scurvy and the officers did not. When a crew was going on a long voyage, they would hire a private firm to feed them. The firm charged a flat rate, so the cheaper the food, the more money the firm would make. The common sailors usually ate salt fish, salt beef, and rye crackers. There is no vitamin C in any of those foods. The officers got a few extras, like potatoes, and that protected them against scurvy. You would have to go without any vitamin C for 3 months to get scurvy. There was rarely a ship out for that long. The sailors would have been protected from the disease if they would've eaten fresh fruits and vegetable while on land. Sailors from other parts of the world never got scurvy because they brought other vitamin C rich foods along with them. The Vikings ate sauerkraut and the Chinese grew their own bean sprouts. Both of these foods are high in vitamin C. The chemical name for vitamin C is ascorbic acid. It got this name because it was known to cure scurvy. "A" means not or without, and "scorbutus" means scurvy. Because it is an acid, they called it ascorbic acid.
C6H8O6 Vitamin C can help you look younger and more beautiful. C encourages growth of the protein chains in collagen, which is the main ingredient in all fibrous tissue. Fibrous tissue is your bone matrix, cartilage, tooth dentin (right under the enamel), skin, tendons, ligaments, and all other connective tissue. Collagen is what keeps your cells bound together. You can't make collagen without vitamin C. Can you imagine what happens to your body if all your cells started drifting apart? (One of the symptoms of scurvy is loosening of teeth. Eeeeek!) Many beauty products advertise that their product will smooth fine lines and wrinkles because it contains collagen. You can do the same thing from the inside out, with longer lasting results, by insuring that you have enough vitamin C in your diet every day. It will keep your skin smoother and more lovely. Collagen strengthens and firms your whole body just because it is a main part of what keeps you tightly packed up.
Vitamin C also builds up natural body defenses. When a cell becomes infected by a virus it produces interferon, which inhibits the reproduction of other viruses. Interferon has to be activated by vitamin C before it can do its job. C helps your immune system in another way, too. It is hard for viruses, bacteria, and their harmful byproducts to get through a tight meshwork of protein, which is what collagen is. If the collagen is loose, the bacteria can get to underlying connective tissue and healthy cells much easier. When your immune system is stronger, you don't get sick as easily. Vitamin C also increases the number of lymphocytes that your body produces. Lymphocytes eat unhealthy cells, debris, bacteria, and viruses. One of these viruses in the common cold. Many studies have been done to see if vitamin C helps your body get over a cold. There is a lot of conflicting evidence, but none of this evidence is very strong in favor of or against vitamin C. Either way, a cold will go away in about a week, so don't stress too much about it.
When you get cut, collagen helps you heal. When you don't have enough vitamin C, you can't make as much collagen and you won't heal as quickly. This goes for both the outside and inside of your body. Collagen is involved in healing fractures, bruises, pinpoint hemorrhages, and just about any other healing that takes place in your body. It also makes all your tissues stronger so they won't be damaged as easily. (Do you see the far reaching effects of strong collagen on your health and appearance?)
Vitamin C has many functions other than the production and maintenance of collagen. It is vital in the oxidation of two amino acids: phenylalanine and tyrosine. Their oxidation ensures that your spinal cord and brain are working properly. Vitamin C helps your body absorb more iron and less copper. (Too much copper is very detrimental to your brain.) Vitamin C directs calcium to where it should go in the body and be used most effeciently. Vitamin C can help chronic back pain by strengthening the cartillage pads between your vertebrae. Ascorbic acid helps glands, and adrenal glands especially, to produce hormones. The adrenal glands secrete hormones to help you deal with stress. You're going to want to keep those glands working as well as possible. Your body cannot change the cholesterol in your body to bile unless vitamin C is present. Bile helps to break up fats in the body. When C is adequate in the diet, the collagen in blood vessels is strong and more resistant to cholesterol build-up. Vitamin C can attach to dangerous metals like cadmium and lead, and make them easily excreteable by the kidneys. C also reduces the likelihood of kidney stones.
You should eat 10 mg of vitamin C a day to prevent scurvy. For optiumum health you're going to want to eat 60 mg a day. Which isn't very hard. Over time, with 60 mg a day, you could go without a trace of vitamin C for 4 weeks, not get scurvy, and still have a little extra for safety. If you are pregnant you should eat 70 mg a day. If you are nursing, eat 95 mg the first 6 months and 90 mg the second 6 months. As you can see from the following table, you can get more than enough vitamin C from delicious natural foods.
Foods High in Vitamin C Kiwi, 1 74 mg Broccoli fresh, 1 spear 141 mg frozen, chopped, 1/2 cup 37 mg Brussel sprouts, frozen, 1/2 cup 36 mg Cantaloupe, 1/2 melon (5" diameter) 113 mg Pepper sweet, 1 95 mg hot chili, raw, 1/2 cup 109 mg Orange, 1 (2 1/2" diameter) 70 mg Orange juice fresh, 1/2 cup 62 mg frozen, diluted, 1/2 cup 49 mg canned, 1/2 cup 36 mg Turnip greens, fresh then cooked, 1/2 cup 20 mg Strawberry, 1/2 cup 42 mg Tomato, fresh, 1 (3" diameter) 22 mg Lemon, 1 (2 1/2" diameter) 31 mg Cauliflower, fresh then cooked, 1/2 cup 35 mg Potato, baked then peeled, 1 medium 26 mgWhen your body is under emotional or physical stress (pollution in air, water, or food), it requires more C, so it is important to get plenty of vitamin C in times of stress. If you smoke, you should definately watch how much vitamin C you are eating. Every cigarette you smoke uses up 25 mg of C. That can add up quick! Smokers usually get sick more often, with a greater variety of illnesses than non-smokers. This is in part due to low vitamin C levels.
Vitamin C can also help you out if you have cancer. Cancer starts out by one or more unhealthy cells reproducing rapidly. These cells can then break off and be carried by the blood to many other places in your body. If you have strong collagen fibers, the cancer won't be able to break away nearly as easily and you would have a greater chance of getting the whole thing out with surgery. Cancer cells also produce hyaluronidase and collagenase. These two enzymes destroy collagen, making it easier for the cancer to spread throughout your body. If you eat enough vitamin C it could stop their production. Vitamin C encourages the production of compliment, a protein in normal plasma (liquid part of blood). Compliment and special antibodies that C also helps produce, team up to destroy malignant and invading cells that can cause cancer.
When preparing your foods, make sure you aren't destroying much of the vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is highly water soluble, so if you boil your food and throw aways the water, you're throwing away all the vitamin C. It is best to steam your vegetables and then eat them as soon as possible. Storing foods can also greatly reduce the amount of active vitamin C.
There isn't really a toxicity for vitamin C.
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Revised: 14 Sep 99