Vitamin C, A Boost To Your Health & Well-Being

Summary
As cooler temperatures arrive, many people like to load up on Vitamin C to ward off colds.

Vitamin C and your body

Humans are one of the few mammals that can’t produce Vitamin C. That’s right; your body doesn’t make or store this vital nutrient so you must replenish your body’s supply of it every day. Why?

Bones – All the minerals in your bones require Vitamin C to turn them into health-building materials.
Blood – Your blood needs Vitamin C to convert iron into hemoglobin, a protein in your red blood cells.
Collagen – Vitamin C is required to form collagen; collagen in turn forms the body’s connective tissues such as blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and bones.
Gums – Vitamin C helps maintain healthy teeth and gums.
Immune system function – Vitamin C activates immune cells called lymphocytes. Vitamin C also acts as a powerful antioxidant, protecting your body from free radicals; these damaging molecules can result from metabolism, environmental toxins and stress. Free radicals have been implicated in conditions ranging from heart disease and cancer to arthritis and inflammation. In addition to protecting against free radicals, Vitamin C can help expand the lifespan of other antioxidants such as Vitamins A and E.

Vitamin C and diabetes

A study in the July 2008 Archives of Internal Medicine showed that those with higher Vitamin C levels had a 62% lower risk of developing Type II diabetes than those with lower levels of Vitamin C. That’s great news considering that 24 million people in the United States alone have diabetes (according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Vitamin C and cancer

A 2008 study from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Kansas showed that when Vitamin C was administered intravenously to mice, it reduced the weight of ovarian, brain and pancreatic cancer tumors by 41 to 53%! The body will only allow a certain amount of Vitamin C to be absorbed when it’s taken orally, so researchers wanted to test the results of intravenous Vitamin C. What they found is that while Vitamin C shrank cancer tumors, it did not affect normal cells. Other conditions that Vitamin C has been shown to help include:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Stroke
• High cholesterol
• Macular degeneration
• Aging skin.

Vitamin C and you

So now the question is: How much Vitamin C do you need? Individual needs for Vitamin C depend on a variety of factors; one way to determine how much your body can use is by doing the Vitamin C Flush. savings on TriVita Non-Acidic Vitamin C, see page 12.) The Vitamin C Flush helps you figure out how much Vitamin C you should be taking each day. Plus, the Vitamin C Flush can help detoxify your system. Your need for Vitamin C may diminish when you eat more fresh fruit and vegetables. You may need more Vitamin C if you are:

• Sick
• Running a fever
• Recovering from surgery
• Pregnant
• Breastfeeding

The bottom line? A diet rich in fruits and vegetables as well as high-quality supplements can help ensure you get the Vitamin C you need for optimum health. By actively taking control of your health now, you can help avoid the usual sniffles, sneezing and coughing that come with colder weather – and you can reap the protective health benefits of this amazing vitamin

Source: VitaJournal November 2008 pg 4.

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