Humans depend on the daily supply of vitamin C from food. If the vitamin is lacking over a longer period of time, negative consequences for health are imminent. Many people also have an increased need for vitamin C – without knowing it. Why vitamin C is healthy, which foods contain particularly high levels of ascorbic acid and when it is advisable to increase one’s vitamin C requirement, you can read here.
Effect: Why is vitamin C important and healthy?
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is one of the vital substances that the body cannot produce itself. The vitamin has the following effect on our body:
- Protection against free radicals – thereby ascorbic acid contributes to improved cell protection.
- Stimulation of the immune system – thereby reducing the risk of infection.
- Vitamin C is important for the formation of collagen and thus also contributes significantly to a tight connective tissue, healthy bones and teeth.
- Vitamin C plays an important factor in steroid synthesis and is thus involved in the formation of hormones.
- Vitamin C improves the absorption of iron from food, which is particularly relevant in vegetarian and vegan diets.
- Vitamin C contributes to better detoxification in case of increased heavy metal or environmental pollution.
How much vitamin C should it be daily?
A diet rich in vitamin C provides the body with about 50 to 100 milligrams of the vitamin a day. The German Nutrition Society (DGE) recommends a daily dose of 110 milligrams for men and 95 milligrams for women. However, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recommends not exceeding a maximum amount of 250 milligrams per day as a guideline for additional intake of vitamin C, such as through dietary supplements. 10 foods with vitamin power
Who has an increased need for vitamin C?
The need for vitamin C can be increased in various situations:
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding: from the fourth month of pregnancy, the German Nutrition Society (DGE) recommends a daily intake of 105 milligrams of vitamin C, and even 125 milligrams during breastfeeding.
- Smokers have in part up to 40 percent increased need of the vitamin
- In patients with gastric and small intestinal ulcers, the absorption of the vitamin may be impaired, since the transport and utilization of food is hindered by the ulcer
- Various medications may also increase vitamin C consumption, such as contraceptives, antibiotics, or painkillers
- People who are exposed to increased stress professionally or privately
- People with weakened immune system
- People who want to protect themselves from a cold
- Diabetics also have a need increased by up to 30 percent
- People who eat a one-sided diet or a diet that includes foods that are not freshly prepared
- Competitive athletes and older people
- If you belong to one of these groups of people, you may want to take a vitamin C supplement in addition to your diet
Vitamin C in foods: These are rich in ascorbic acid
Vitamin C is found in all plants. You can find particularly high concentrations in the following foods:
- Peppers, potatoes, flower and red cabbage, spinach, savoy cabbage, lamb’s lettuce and tomatoes, broccoli, parsley, sauerkraut.
- Rose hips, sea buckthorn and black currants.
- Citrus, kiwi, strawberries and apples.
Vitamin C in fruit – Johannes Rapp
Vitamin C daily dose, equivalent.
75 milligrams are contained in the following foods, for example:
- 7 grams of rosehip
- 50 grams bell bell pepper
- 60 grams broccoli
- 80 grams fennel or kale
- 100 grams cauliflower
- 120 grams of tangerine, orange, lemon
- 300 grams tomatoes
- 600 gram apple
Vitamin C content in fresh and canned foods: Where is there more?
Fresh, ready-to-harvest fruits and vegetables contain the most vitamin C, but can also lose it the fastest. This is because external influences significantly reduce the vitamin C content in foods. Light and also temperature influences, for example in the form of heat and sunlight, quickly destroy a large part of the vitamin content.Water also extracts vitamin C, which is why fruits and vegetables should only be washed briefly under running water and not left in water. Most vitamin C is lost when cooking in water, as the vitamin C passes into the cooking water. Cooked fruits and vegetables therefore usually contain only half the amount of vitamin C present in raw food.
Tip: It is better to steam vegetables only briefly and in little water, and to reuse the cooking water if possible. Even if foods rich in vitamin C wait to be eaten at normal room temperature and protected from light, the vitamin content will decrease over time. This is because vitamin C is not only sensitive to environmental influences such as light and heat, but also to air: vitamin C oxidizes on contact with oxygen. The vitamin C content in some foods can therefore be preserved to some extent by freezing or briefly heating them strongly directly after harvesting. Flash-frozen vegetables and fruits, as well as canned goods in some cases, thus sometimes contain even more vitamin C than the fresh version of the respective food.
Symptoms of vitamin C deficiency
The best-known deficiency symptom is probably scurvy. The disease is characterized by cornification disorders of the skin and bleeding of mucous membranes and in the muscles. The formation of connective tissue is disturbed, and wound healing is delayed. This clinical picture was often seen in seafarers in the past, but today it is very rarely observed. A relatively reduced intake of vitamin C more often leads to colds, sleep disorders and depression, and increases the tendency to form varicose veins and hemorrhoids.
Overdose from too much vitamin C?
In healthy people, an overdose with vitamin C is usually not possible, because vitamin C is water-soluble and so excess ascorbic acid absorbed is excreted through the urine – and at very high doses also through the stool. For this reason, there are some well-known scientists who do not see any risks even in their recommendations for mega-doses (several grams) of vitamin C. The benefits, however, are doubted in many places. However, if metabolic disorders exist, regular intake of high-dose vitamin C over a long period of time can sometimes lead to an excess. Normally such an excess is not dangerous, but sensitive people can react to too much vitamin C with digestive problems, especially in the form of diarrhea. A far more negative consequence of long-term excessive vitamin C intake can result for people with impaired kidney function, since the kidneys play a supporting role in the excretion of vitamin C. Excessive doses of vitamin C also increase oxalic acid levels in them, which over time also increases the risk of kidney stones.
Vitamin C increases iron absorption and extends shelf life
Iron absorption in the body is increased by the simultaneous intake of vitamin C (for example, orange juice). This is because vitamin C increases the valence of iron, which also improves absorption (uptake in the body). In particular, people who are increasingly affected by iron deficiency, such as those on vegetarian and vegan diets, can take advantage of this fact by targeting vitamin C-rich foods at iron-rich meals. Ascorbic acid’s ability to protect various substances from decay is also frequently exploited in the preservation of foods.
