Does vitamin C help us when we’re sick? A physician explains

Vitamin C helps our immune methods, helps our our bodies heal wounds, protects our joints and contributes to collagen formation, the principle protein within the physique. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps shield your cells in opposition to what are known as free radicals, that are produced when your physique is uncovered to doubtlessly cancerous issues like cigarette smoke and the solar’s rays.

Regardless of all these advantages, there may be restricted proof to help the notion that taking further doses of vitamin C can successfully forestall frequent colds.

For most individuals, taking a day by day oral complement of vitamin C through tablets, drink powders or gummies will not be that useful as a result of chances are you’ll be getting it out of your food regimen naturally. Our our bodies do not produce vitamin C on their very own, however loads of what we eat comprises it.

Citrus fruits could come to thoughts first after we hear vitamin C, however meals akin to potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, berries and different brightly coloured vegetables and fruit are stuffed with the nutrient. Opposite to widespread perception, an orange bell pepper has 3 times the quantity of vitamin C than an orange.

It is necessary to get your day by day consumption of vegetables and fruit, however many individuals within the U.S. don’t. Somewhat little bit of added vitamin C may very well assist these people. Usually, although, if you’ll be able to entry and eat an enough provide of vegetables and fruit in your food regimen, that will probably be ample.

Some individuals might imagine they need to double up on vitamin C dietary supplements when feeling unwell, however extra is just not all the time a superb factor. Taking an excessive amount of vitamin C may cause negative effects which will make you’re feeling worse, akin to nausea, vomiting, abdomen cramps, bloating, fatigue, heartburn, complications, pores and skin flushing and even kidney stones in some individuals. Ensure you don’t eat greater than the advisable day by day dose of 500 milligrams.

Excessive ranges of vitamin C can intervene with a number of varieties of medicines and outcomes of sure medical checks akin to blood or glucose screening. Utilizing vitamin C whereas taking oral contraceptives might doubtlessly improve your estrogen ranges. For sufferers present process chemotherapy, the usage of antioxidants akin to vitamin C may reduce the impact of the chemotherapy medicine.

Total, taking vitamin C within the type of meals is one of the best ways to reap its advantages, however taking further vitamin C, notably for these with a weakened immune system, wouldn’t be dangerous. Some restricted analysis exhibits that vitamin C could forestall the length of a virus, such because the frequent chilly.

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