An adequate intake of vitamin C may protect against stroke and heart attack and a host of other ailments.
Until about 200 years ago, sailors deprived of fruits and vegetables on long voyages commonly died of scurvy.
Subsequent British navy experiments, however, proved that the disease could be prevented if a supply of lemon or lime juice was stowed on board.
The active ingredient? Vitamin C.
This important nutrient not only prevents scurvy, it's an essential nutrient with a variety of functions in the body.
According to Mark Kantor, Ph.D., food and nutrition specialist, department of nutrition and food science, University of Maryland, College Park, vitamin C aids in wound healing; prevents periodontal disease; enhances absorption of dietary non-heme iron; acts as an in vivo nitrite scavenger to help prevent formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines; maintains collagen and connective tissue in the body; and acts as the most versatile and effective water-soluble dietary antioxidant.
Cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke, is responsible for 950,000 deaths in the United States every year.
It's estimated that people who have high blood levels of vitamin C live six years longer than those who have lower blood levels. Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Journal of Epidemiology, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
For the vitamin-conscious among us, reaching for this vitamin often seems associated with cold-and-flu season. Its potent antioxidant properties can help protect our immune systems against the ravages of winter illnesses and help us fight off infection. But now there is even more reason to ensure you're getting the C you need: Recent findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggest that a diet high in vitamin C may help protect your heart from damage.
Unlike most other mammals, humans don't naturally produce their own vitamin C; the only way to it is to ingest it.
You could pile your plate high with citrus fruits (oranges, tangerines and grapefruit), as well as papayas, strawberries, cantaloupe, and pineapple. And you could eat your fill of vegetables such as tomatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, cabbage and turnips. But you'd need to eat several servings to get the appropriate amount of vitamin C. And it can be lost from foods during preparation, cooking or storage.
Moreover, many of us already have a vitamin C deficiency, which occurs most often: If you smoke If you suffer physical or emotional stress If you drink alcohol If you have allergies If you have a fever or viral illness If you're taking antibiotics, cortisone, aspirin or other pain medicines If you're exposed to toxic chemicals (e.g., DDT, petroleum products, carbon monoxide), environmental pollution or heavy metals (e.g., lead, mercury, cadmium) If you suffer from recurrent infections If you're a woman who takes the birth-control pill If you're older than age 60
To ensure you're getting the right amount of C, take a nutritional supplement. It's a wise move for your overall health but particularly for your heart -- noteworthy in recent studies, both at the National Institutes of Health and the Harvard School of Public Health, is the fact that it's supplementation, not consuming foods rich in vitamin C, that appears to protect against heart disease.
The late Dr. Linus Pauling, two-time Nobel laureate and a strong proponent of vitamin C, was convinced that supplementation of can help prevent the onset of cardiovascular disease. Vitamin C's link to heart disease, he said, was supported by studies of patients with scurvy, the disease caused by a deficiency. Half the patients in the study who died after contracting scurvy did so because of ruptured blood vessels.
More recently, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that an adequate intake of vitamin C might protect against stroke and heart attack by lowering blood pressure and LDL ("bad cholesterol") levels, and helping to thin the blood to protect against clots. It also helps prevent atherosclerosis (commonly known as hardening of the arteries) by strengthening the artery walls as it manufactures collagen, the protein that gives shape to connective tissues and strength to skin and blood vessels.
How much is enough?
The current US Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C is 60 mg, although a lesser amount may be adequate if taken in a multi-supplement that also includes citric acid and/or citrus bioflavonoids (naturally occurring compounds in vitamin C), which aid in absorption. And Hey!...Our popular womens fitness website is in the TOP 2% of visited websites online today! See how we did it and how you could do the same...click here
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