Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Nutrition Fact: Vitamin C is Essential

There are numerous vitamins, minerals, and essential acids that not only aid 
the body in its everyday function, but that also can help the human machine 
perform at optimum levels. We are bombarded on a daily basis with vitamin and 
mineral information, so it is always interesting when you can actually glean a 
nutrition fact or two from the wide array of vitamin education. 

For instance, Vitamin C is a required vitamin for healthy function of the 
circulatory, skeletal, and musculature systems. Basically, Vitamin C is a vital 
ingredient to the production of collagen, which is used to build all kinds of 
things in the body. Another nutrition fact of Vitamin C is that it is a critical 
component of brain activity. Vitamin C helps the cells in the brain keep firing, 
much like a tune up helps your spark plugs fire up your car engine. Vitamin C, 
then, aids in the productivity of the brain, and can even help out in the 
regulation of certain mood-affecting brain chemicals. 

Another nutrition fact beyond this is that Vitamin C is what is known as an 
antioxidant, meaning it has a protective effect. Antioxidants are those things, 
like Vitamin C, that guard cells and proteins from harmful external forces, like 
UV rays, cigarette smoke, and alcohol. The blood and skin are vulnerable to 
damage, so the defense system that Vitamin C puts up can help you keep your 
blood and skin as healthy as possible. 

Interestingly, being deficient in Vitamin C actually causes a disease called 
scurvy, in which all of those systems that rely on Vitamin C for structural 
soundness literally fall apart without this essential building block. Scurvy 
results in teeth and hair loss, easy bruising and bleeding, and a whole host of 
other problems. Scurvy used to be quite prevalent, especially in the military 
where proper nutrition was almost unheard of. All of a sudden, though, they 
figured out that fresh citrus consumption seemed to prevent scurvy, and 
suddenly, a huge Vitamin C benefit was found. How's that for a nutrition fact? 
Nowadays, scurvy rarely happens in the Western world. 

It is also a nutrition fact that Vitamin C may help to prevent flare-ups of 
chronic diseases, and probably does so with a boost to the immune system. So 
taking the recommended daily dose of Vitamin C can keep your body from falling 
apart, and keep you feeling good.

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