10 Interesting Facts about Vitamin C

These following facts about vitamin C should have given you much information about how useful the vitamin is. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. This vitamin refers to a number of vitamers that have vitamin C activity in animals, including ascorbic acid and its salts, and some oxidized forms of the molecule like dehydroascorbic acid. Ascorbate and ascorbic acid are both naturally present in the body when either of these is introduced into cells, since the forms interconvert according to PH. However, to get to know more information about this, here are some facts about vitamin C you might be interested in.

Facts about vitamin C 1: Role in Mammals

In humans, vitamin C is essential to a healthy diet as well as being a highly effective antioxidant, acting to lessen oxidative stress and an enzyme cofactor for the biosynthesis of many important biochemicals. Vitamin C acts as an electron donor for important enzymes.

Facts about vitamin C 2: Antioxidant

Ascorbic acid is well known for its antioxidant activity, acting as a reducing agent to reverse oxidation in liquids. When there are more free radicals in the human body than antioxidants, the condition is called oxidative stress, and has an impact on cardiovascular disease, hypertension, chronic inflammatory diseases, diabetes as well as well as on critically ill patients and individuals with severe burns.

Facts about vitamin C 3: Immune System

Vitamin C is found in high concentrations in immune cells, and is consumed quickly during infections. It is not certain how vitamin C interacts with the immune system; it has been hypothesized to modulate the activities of phagocytes, the production of cytokines and lymphocytes and the number of cell adhesion molecules in monocytes.

Facts about vitamin C 4: Cooking

Cooking and storing fruit and vegetables for too long causes vitamin C loss. To preserve vitamin C content, cook rapidly with very little water and serve immediately. Steaming and microwaving minimizes loss of vitamin C. Canned fruit and vegetables may lose some of their vitamin C value. However, frozen fruit and vegetables keep more vitamin C goodness. So, to best protect vitamin C content, keep all your fruit and vegetables chilled until they are used.

Facts about vitamin C 5: Role in Plants

Ascorbic acid is associated with chloroplasts and apparently plays a role in ameliorating the oxidative stress of photosynthesis. In addition, it has a number of other roles in cell division and protein modification. Plants appear to be able to make ascorbate by at least one other biochemical route that is different from the major route in animals, although precise details remain unknown.

Facts about vitamin C 6: Super-glue

Vitamin C works like the super-glue in keeping cells together: Vitamin C helps to produce collagen. When you are wounded, collagen glues the separated tissue faces together. Cells are held together by collagen. Collagen is also the basis on which bone is formed. So if you break a bone or get a scrape, vitamin C goes straight into action, helping you to heal properly.

Facts about vitamin C 7: Kiwi

Kiwis are twice as rich in vitamin C than oranges. Contrary to popular belief that oranges contain the best vitamin C content, it’s actually kiwis and papayas which contain the most of this all- important nutrient.

Facts about vitamin C 8: Antioxidant

Vitamin C is used as a food preservative and photographic developing agent. It is also commonly added to foods as an antioxidant to protect color and aroma. Most animals can produce their own vitamin C with the exception of fish, primates and guinea pigs.

Facts about vitamin C 9: Dietary Sources

The richest natural sources are fruits and vegetables, and of those, the Kakadu plum and the camu camu fruit contain the highest concentration of the vitamin. It is also present in some cuts of meat, especially liver. Vitamin C is the most widely taken nutritional supplement and is available in a variety of forms, including tablets, drink mixes, crystals in capsules or naked crystals.

Facts about vitamin C 10: Animal Sources

The overwhelming majority of species of animals and plants synthesise their own vitamin C. Therefore, some animal products can be used as sources of dietary vitamin C.

Those who want to be healthy on stuffs related to vitamin C might have taken those facts really useful for it. Hope you would find those vitamin C facts really interesting.