Is your body warning you of Vitamin C deficiency?
Vitamin C is an essential vitamin that the body needs on a regular basis. A body’s immune system craves Vitamin C as it cannot function properly without it. It has many merits and is linked to various health benefits. Some of which are listed below.
1. Potent Antioxidant to reduce risk of chronic diseases.
2. Helps battle high blood pressure
3. Improves skin health
4. Fights Heart Diseases
5. Help prevent Gout attacks
6. Improves iron absorption
7. Boosts immunity
8. Protects memory and helps in promoting brain health.
To enjoy the above benefits, it is recommended to get a daily dose of vitamin C, which is 75 mg for women and 90mg for men.
Despite its advantages, it is baffling to learn that vitamin C deficiency still affects roughly 7% of adults living in America. Vitamin C deficiency can be linked to many dreadful diseases, prominent of which is chronic heart disease.
To learn how to give our body the nourishment of Vitamin C it needs, we first need to understand the signs and causes of Vitamin C deficiency. Armed with this knowledge, one can make the necessary changes to their lifestyle to ensure an adequate dosage of vitamin C for their body.
Let’s look at the signs that might signal a Vitamin C deficiency.
1) Dry Damaged Skin
Vitamin C is responsible for healthy skin. Healthy skin will contain an ample amount of Vitamin C, especially in the epidermis. Vitamin C protects skin from oxidative damage caused by the sun. It also helps in more collagen production, which keeps skin looking plump and healthy. With low levels of vitamin C, the skin will look dry, rough, bumpy, and damaged.
2) Easy Bruising
Easy bruising is a typical sign that the body is suffering from vitamin c deficiency. As vitamin C is responsible for collagen production, its deficiency hampers with the creation of collagen. This is what ultimately leads to weak blood vessels. Deficiency related bruising may cover a large area of the body, or appear under the skin in purple bloated form.
With weak blood vessels, vitamin C deficiency also results in wounds, not healing quickly. If you find an injury that has not healed for weeks after it developed, then you are suffering from vitamin C deficiency.
3) Painful, Swollen Joints
Joints are also victims of vitamin C deficiency. Since joints are made from collagen-rich tissue, its lack of production causes deficiency, which can result in severe joint pain and swelling of the same. This condition can further progress into limping or difficulty in walking.
4) Weak Bones
Low vitamin intake has often been linked to fractures and osteoporosis. Research over the years has found that Vitamin C is vital in bone formation. So naturally, its deficiency will cause weak bones and escalate the risk of fracture in the human body.
5) Bleeding Gums and Tooth Loss
From weak bones to Tooth loss, vitamin C deficiency has dire consequences for the entire body. Without enough vitamin C, gum tissues can weaken, thus resulting in easy bleeding.
6) Fatigue and Poor Memory
We have learned how Vitamin C is directly responsible for a weak immunity system. A poor immune system will result in the body feeling tired during the day. Even the most menial of tasks might seem daunting to do.
7) Weight Gain
People with vitamin C deficiency can gain weight inexplicably. That is because vitamin C has been known to protect against obesity by regulating the release of fat from fat cells. This results in decreased inflammation and reducing stress hormones.
8) Corkscrew Shaped Body Hair
Vitamin c deficiency can also cause hair to grow in a bent or coiled shape. This can be because of the hair not getting enough protein. Defects in the protein structure can be closely linked to Vitamin C deficiency.
9) Spoon shaped fingernails with red spots or lines.
Spoon shaped fingernails are often brittle and thin. They appear concave and are most associated with iron deficiency anemia. Vitamin C has been known to make iron absorption easy for the body. The nails might also have red spots or lines, which is an indicator of ruptured weak blood vessels due to slow collagen production.
These signs can be bought under control within a week or month of adequate intake of Vitamin c from supplements or food sources.
The list below shows fruits and vegetables that have high levels of vitamin C.
1. Guava
2. Acerola Berry
3. Oranges
4. Red Pepper
5. Blackcurrants
6. Kiwifruits
7. LycheeLemon
8. Strawberry
9. Papaya
10. Broccoli
11. Parsley
Although the above foods can help in providing the body with Vitamin c intake it needs, there are certain factors that still trigger vitamin C depletion in the body. It is essential to know what these causes are, as they might have dire consequences for our health.
Causes of Vitamin C Deficiency
1) Root Canals and Mercury Amalgam fillings
Many holistic practitioners have deemed the root canal system to be fatally flawed, and its role in vitamin C depletion may be why. A root canal causes to be released into the human body. These toxins work to deplete the vitamin C levels in our system. Even vitamin C supplementation can’t help unless these toxins are completely removed from the body.
2) Physical Stress and Illness
Physical stress and a host of other medical conditions have been linked with depleting vitamin C levels in the body. For e.g., researchers have found that people suffering from peripheral arterial disease, aka PAD, showed a significant reduction in their Vitamin C levels.
One reason for this is Vitamin C seeks out and destroys harmful radicals that come with conditions like PAD. In the process, it also self-destructs, causing vitamin C deficiency.
3) Cigarette Smoking
A cigarette is riddled with toxins like nicotine and other chemicals that quickly exhaust the vitamin C levels of people who smoke. In 1989 the National Research Council revised the smoker’s recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C from 60 mg to 100 mg a day.
4) Alcohol Drinking
Like a cigarette, alcohol also contains toxins and chemicals that cause the depletion of Vitamin C in the human body. Alcohol introduces toxins into the human liver. Vitamin C has to neutralize the effects of alcohol to protect the liver, thus causing its depletion. Also, the consumption of alcohol can severely hamper with collagen production, which now has no vitamin C to aid in its formation.
5) Drugs
Finally, drugs like over the counter or prescription medicine can also work in reducing levels of Vitamin C in the body. The drugs can include antidepressants, analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs, oral contraceptives, anticoagulants, etc.
Bottom Line
Vitamin C is a nutrient our body’s immune system cannot do without. Great efforts should be taken to include Vitamin c rich food or supplements in our diet. For males, its 90 mg per day, whereas for females, the daily dosage recommended is 75mg. Not having adequate vitamin C in the body makes it vulnerable to diseases, both chronic and benign. If your body shows any of the mentioned symptoms, consult your trusted practitioner to restore the levels of vitamin C in your body before it is too late.
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