Vitamin C : Sources and deficiency

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Today in this blog, we learn about Vitamin C. It is also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate. This is very important nutrient which we get from fruits, vegetables and sold as dietary supplements.

Vitamins are of two types :
Fat soluble vitamins – A, D, E, K
Water soluble vitamins – B, C

It is water soluble vitamin. It is not stored in our body fats. So, this nutrition need to take in daily basis. If you deprive taking of vitamin c for months than deficiency of Vit C occurs.

Vit C was discovered in 1912, it isolated in 1928 and first time chemically produce in 1933. It is the WHO list of essential medicine. It is not expensive medicine, it is also available on the counter in medical stores.

We learn this topic in below format

  • Sources
  • Daily requirement
  • Importance
  • Deficiency

SOURCES OF VITAMIN C

vitamin c
Vitamin C Fruit

Citrus fruits like lime, lemon, orange, strawberry, kiwi, blackcurrant, pineapple, grapefruit, raspberry, etc.

Tomato, potato, fresh vegetables

plant source amount (mg/ 100gm)
Kakadu plum 1000-5300
Guava 228
Blackcurrant 200
Kiwifruit, brococci 900
Papaya, strawberry 60
Orange, lemon 53
Pineapple, cauliflower 48
Grapefruit, raspberry 30
cabbage. lime 30
Mango 28
Blackberry 21
Potato 20
Tomato 14
Apricot, watermelon 10
Onion 7.4
Carrot, apple 6

DAILY REQUIREMENT

Daily requiremnt of vitamin c is approx 40 to 90mg per day.

Upper tolerable limit is 2000mg. As vit c is water soluble, it not absorbed although we take high in diet. Excess amount in blood is removed through urine. But if we take more than 1gm daily basis it may cause diarhhoea & formation of renal oxalate stone.

IMPORTANCE

Antioxidant
Vit C has antioxidant property, which removes free radicals from our body. By removing free radicals or toxins, vit C keeps us away from so many diseases.

Improve immunity
It improve our immunity. Due to that we save ourself from so many disease conditions. It is required for the functioning of several enzymes.

Common cold and cancer
Scientist Linus Pauling wrote book on “Vitamin C and common cold”. In this book, he describes benifits of taking more vitamin C in common cold. He also wrote book on “Vitamin C and cancer”. In which he describes how vit C is benificial in cancer disease. But these topics are still under research.

Cardiovascular disease
Some research suggest that vitamin C is benificial to prevent cardiac disease and also improves brain function. Still data is insufficient, research is still going on.

If deficiency of vitamin C occurs than we suffer from so many problems, that mention below.

DEFICIENCY OF VITAMIN C

Vit C is water soluble vitamin. It can not store in our body fat. So, if we stop intake for months than deficiency occurs. Once deficiency occurs, symptoms appear as below mention

  • Tiredness and fatigue is initially symptoms vit c deficiency
  • Scurvy
    Swollen gums which bleed easily
  • Perifollicular and potechial hemorrhage
    Bleeding under skin in small area
  • Ecchymoses
    Discoloration of skin due to bleeding underneath skin
  • Gastrointestinal bleeding
  • Poor wound healing
    Once injured, recovery is slow in vit c deficiency
  • Anemia
    Due to blood loss, patient is suffering from low hemoglobin called anaemia

Increase requirement of vit C

In some conditions vit C intake need to increase. These conditions are as below mention

  • Trauma, surgery, burns, infection
  • Smoking
  • Drugs like aspirin, corticosteroids, indomethacin, tetracycline

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