Vitamin C, present in a variety of fruits and vegetables, offers numerous health advantages. It supports our immune defenses and may contribute to lowering blood pressure.
Vitamin C is an essential nutrient, meaning the body cannot make it. Despite that, it plays many roles and has been associated with notable health benefits.
It is water-soluble and abundant in many fruits and vegetables, such as oranges, strawberries, kiwi, bell peppers, broccoli, kale, and spinach.
The recommended daily intake for vitamin C is for women and for men.
Although it’s generally recommended to obtain vitamin C from whole foods, many individuals use supplements to reach their requirements.
Below are seven scientifically supported benefits of using a vitamin C supplement.
May lower your risk of chronic illness
Vitamin C is a robust antioxidant that can bolster your body’s innate defenses.
Antioxidants are compounds that support the immune system by shielding cells from damaging molecules called free radicals.
When free radicals build up, they can cause oxidative stress, a condition associated with many long-term diseases.
A recent review of studies on the significance and utility of vitamin C for preventing and treating various conditions highlights the advantages of vitamin C intake for maintaining optimal health and preventing deficiencies and related disorders.
May help control high blood pressure
of American adults have high blood pressure.
High blood pressure increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, the worldwide.
Research indicates that vitamin C may help reduce blood pressure in people with and without hypertension.
An found that vitamin C supplementation helped relax the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart, contributing to lower blood pressure.
Additionally, a meta-analysis of 29 human trials reported that vitamin C supplementation lowered systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 3.8 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by 1.5 mmHg on average in participants with normal or elevated blood pressure.
While these findings are encouraging, it is uncertain whether the blood pressure effects persist long-term. People with hypertension should not rely solely on vitamin C for treatment.
May decrease your heart disease risk
Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.
Many factors raise heart disease risk, including high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides or LDL (bad) cholesterol, and low HDL (good) cholesterol.
Vitamin C may help improve some of these risk factors, potentially lowering heart disease risk.
For instance, an with a combined 293,172 participants found that after 10 years, individuals taking at least 700 mg of vitamin C daily had a 25% lower risk of heart disease compared with those not using supplements.
Interestingly, found that getting vitamin C from foods — rather than supplements — was associated with a reduced heart disease risk.
However, researchers cautioned that those who ate vitamin-C-rich foods might also follow healthier lifestyles than supplement users, so it’s unclear whether the benefit was due to vitamin C or other dietary/lifestyle factors.
Another analysis of 13 studies examined the impact of taking at least 500 mg of vitamin C daily on heart disease risk markers, such as blood cholesterol and triglycerides.
The analysis found that vitamin C supplements significantly lowered LDL (bad) cholesterol by about 7.9 mg/dL and reduced blood triglycerides by 20.1 mg/dL.
In summary, consuming or supplementing with at least 500 mg of vitamin C daily may help lower heart disease risk. However, if your diet is already rich in vitamin C, extra supplements may not offer additional cardiovascular benefits.
May reduce blood uric acid and help prevent gout flare-ups
Gout is a form of arthritis that affects about 4% of American adults.
It is extremely painful and involves joint inflammation, especially in the big toes. People with gout experience swelling and sudden, intense episodes of pain.
Gout symptoms occur when uric acid levels in the blood become too high. Uric acid is a waste product produced by the body that can crystallize and deposit in joints when elevated.
Multiple studies suggest vitamin C may reduce blood uric acid and thereby help guard against gout attacks.
For example, a study of 1,387 men found that those with the highest vitamin C intake had considerably lower blood uric acid levels than those with the lowest intake.
Another study that followed 46,994 healthy men over 20 years found that individuals taking a vitamin C supplement had a 44% reduced risk of developing gout.
Additionally, an analysis of 13 studies showed that taking vitamin C for 30 days significantly lowered blood uric acid compared with a placebo.
Although the association between vitamin C and uric acid appears strong, further research is required to confirm vitamin C’s effects on gout.
Helps prevent iron deficiency
Iron is a vital mineral that performs many roles in the body. It’s essential for producing red blood cells and transporting oxygen throughout the body.
Vitamin C can enhance the absorption of dietary iron. It helps convert poorly absorbed forms of iron, like plant-based iron, into a form that the body can absorb more easily.
This is particularly valuable for people following vegetarian or vegan diets, since meat is a major source of iron.
Consequently, vitamin C may lower the risk of anemia in individuals prone to iron deficiency.
If you have low iron levels, increasing intake of vitamin-C-rich foods or taking a vitamin C supplement may help raise your blood iron.
Supports immune function
One of the chief reasons people take vitamin C supplements is to strengthen immunity, because vitamin C is involved in multiple aspects of immune function.
First, vitamin C promotes production of white blood cells such as lymphocytes and phagocytes, which help defend the body against infections.
Second, vitamin C helps these white blood cells work more effectively while protecting them from damage by reactive molecules like free radicals.
Third, vitamin C is a crucial component of the skin’s defense. It is actively transported to the skin, where it acts as an antioxidant and helps reinforce the skin’s barrier.
Studies also indicate that vitamin C intake can shorten wound healing time.
Moreover, low vitamin C status has been linked to worse health outcomes.
For instance, people with pneumonia often have reduced vitamin C levels, and vitamin C supplements have been shown to shorten recovery times.
Protects memory and cognition with aging
Dementia is an umbrella term for symptoms involving impaired thinking and memory.
It affects 47 million people globally and is most common in older adults.
suggest that oxidative stress and inflammation in the central nervous system (the brain, spine, and nerves) can raise dementia risk.
Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant. Low vitamin C levels have been associated with poorer cognitive performance and memory.
Moreover, have reported that people with dementia often have lower blood vitamin C levels.
Additionally, higher vitamin C intake from foods or supplements has been linked to protective effects on thinking and memory as people age.
Vitamin C supplements may help protect against conditions like dementia if dietary intake is inadequate. Nonetheless, more human trials are necessary to clarify the impact of vitamin C supplements on nervous system health.
Unsubstantiated claims about vitamin C
Although vitamin C has many well-supported benefits, it is also the subject of several claims that lack solid evidence.
Below are some unproven assertions regarding vitamin C:
- Prevents the common cold. Vitamin C seems to reduce cold severity and shorten recovery by about 8% in adults and 14% in children, but it does not prevent colds.
- Reduces cancer risk. A few studies have linked vitamin C intake with lower risk for some cancers. However, most research finds no effect of vitamin C on cancer development.
- Protects against eye disease. Vitamin C has been associated with reduced risk of eye conditions like cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, but supplements have shown little benefit and may even be harmful in some cases.
- May treat lead toxicity. While individuals with lead poisoning may have low vitamin C levels, robust human evidence that vitamin C treats lead toxicity is lacking in studies.
The takeaway
Vitamin C is a water-soluble nutrient that must be obtained from foods or supplements.
It has been associated with many notable health effects, including boosting antioxidant defenses, lowering blood pressure, reducing gout risk, improving iron absorption, supporting immunity, and potentially lowering heart disease and dementia risk.
In general, vitamin C supplements are an easy and effective way to increase your vitamin C intake if you have difficulty getting enough from your diet.
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