Water soluble vitamins and health - Vitamin C

21 important questions on Water soluble vitamins and health - Vitamin C

How much vitamin C is absorbed

The proportion of vitamin C absorbed in the intestine is dependent on the amount ingested in the diet and will decrease with increasing intake levels

How is the storage capacity of vitamin C?

Water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C have a low storage capacity as compared to fat-soluble vitamins.

What are the two main roles of vitamin C?

  1. It is a powerful antioxidant
  2. It can work as a coenzyeme
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What is the antioxidant power of vitamin C?

As a powerful antioxidant, vitamin C can neutralize harmful free radicals by donating electrons and can therefore aid in neutralizing pollutants and toxins. Importantly, after giving up electrons, vitamin C can accept them again to become reactivated.
This recycling of vitamin C is key to limiting its losses and maintaining a reserve of antioxidants in the body. Vitamin C thus protects water-soluble molecules against oxidative damage, just like vitamin E does for fat-soluble molecules.

As what kind of co enzyme can vitamin C function?

As a coenzyme, which means as part of an enzyme complex, vitamin C is required for the synthesis of collagen, the intercellular ‘cement’ substance that gives structure to connective tissuein muscles, blood vessels, bones, tendons and ligaments.

What does vitamin C do to proline and lysine?

Vitamin C is required for the hydroxylation of the proline and lysine amino acids in collagen.
Hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine are important for stabilizing collagen.
By supporting collagen and connective tissue formation, vitamin C is important for wound healing and contributes to the health of teeth and gums, thereby preventing rupture of blood vessels and bleeding.
In addition, vitamin C plays an important role in the synthesis of several peptide hormones and neurotransmitters, and is needed for the production of bile acids.

What are early symptoms of vitamin C deficiency?

Early symptoms of vitamin C deficiency are very general and could also indicate other diseases. They include fatigue, lassitude, loss of appetite, drowsiness and insomnia, feeling rundown, irritability, low resistance to infections and some degree of bleeding in small blood vessels.

What happens in severe deficiency of vitamin C?

Severe vitamin C deficiency leads to scurvy.
Scurvy is characterized by weakening of connective tissue, resulting in widespread bleeding from small blood vessels.
Childhood scurvy causes bone malformations.
Bleeding gums and loosening of the teeth are usually the earliest signs of clinical vitamin C deficiency. Rupture of blood vessels under the skin causes extreme tenderness of extremities and pain during movement.
If left untreated, gangrene and death may result.

Which group is in higher risk of vitamin C deficiency?

Studies consistently show that smokers have lower plasma and white blood cell vitamin C levels than non-smokers, due in part to increased oxidative stress. For this reason, it is generally accepted that smokers need more vitamin C than non-smokers.

What can happen when you feed your infant with cow milk?

Feeding infants evaporated or boiled cow's milk is not recommended. This practice can cause vitamin C deficiency as cow's milk naturally has very little vitamin C and heat can destroy vitamin C.

What can happen with people with a limited food variety?

They are at higher risk if they dont eat enough products with vitamin C. These people are:
  • some elderly,
  • indigent individuals who prepare their own food,
  • people who abuse alcohol or drugs,
  • food faddists,
  • people with mental illness,
  • and occasionally children, might not obtain sufficient vitamin C.

What can medical conditions do to absorption of vitamin C?

It can reduce the amount of absorption or increase the amount of vitamin C that the body needs.

What can happen if you eat to much vitamin C?

Vitamin C has low toxicity and is not believed to cause serious adverse effects at high intakes.
1The most common complaints are diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, and other gastrointestinal disturbances due to the osmotic effect of unabsorbed vitamin C in the gastrointestinal tract.

`What are the biggest contributers of vitamin C in our diet?

Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of vitamin C.
Citrus fruits, tomatoes and tomato juice, and potatoes are major contributors of vitamin C in the American diet.

What are the forms of vitamin C in suplements?

Ascorbic acid. or combined with salt

Is there a difference in DRI for people?

More if you are older, men and pregnant woman need more.

What is the evidence that vitamin C helps to prevent colds?

If you eat a big amount of vitamin C every day you have a very slightly shorted cold duration: by around 8% in adults and by 14% in children

severity might be a little bit less when vitamin C is consumed before the cold. This might be because the antioxidant action of vitamin C activated immune cells.

What can vitamin C do for people with suffer form a stuffy nose from histamin?

Vitamin C can deactivate histamine and give therfore release

What can vitamin C do to free radicals in the stomach and small intstine?

Vitamin C can potentially inactivate free radicals in the stomach and small intestine; it can prevent formation of potentially damaging compounds such as nitrosamines.


Whether this has clinical benefit is controversial.

What can vitamin C do to iron absorption?

In the small intestine, vitamin C promotes iron absorption.
A dose of vitamin C that is found in vitamin C–rich foods, enhanced the uptake of iron up to ten times more, depending on iron status, vitamin C dose, and test meal type.


The effect of vitamin C on raising hemoglobin concentration was modest.

What is the RDA of vitamin C for adults?

80 mg

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