Vitamin C

Food sources:

* Tropical fruit like guava, pawpaw, pineapple, kiwi

* Greens like spinach, Brussel sprouts, and broccoli

* Capsicum, tomato and avocado

* All berries but strawberries are the highest

* Citrus fruit including oranges, lemons, grapefruit

* Durian - but you are not eating it at my house!

Vitamin C is best utilised with additional bioflavonoids. Bioflavonoids are plant-derived antioxidants that give ‘flavour’ to plants. There are over 6000 known bioflavonoids, but some you may have heard of include quercetin, hesperetin, catechin, luteolin, cyanidin.

Deficiency:

People who don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables are at risk of Vitamin C deficiency. Heavy drinkers and smokers are also at an increased risk. Scurvy is caused by a severe Vitamin C deficiency. It is characterised by bruising, bleeding gums, tiredness, skin complaints and can even result in death.

Uses:

* Vitamin C is needed for collagen formation; good collagen levels are needed to maintain skin plumpness and reduce wrinkles; it's also needed to keep muscles and bones healthy and keep teeth in your mouth.

* It helps reduce stress levels and anxiety while producing happy neurotransmitters and improving cognition

* It is an antioxidant and can help protect the body from disease

* But its most known for its role in immunity. It helps prevent infections and helps overcome infections faster.

* Great for cardiovascular health, it may lower blood pressure. It also assists with the absorption of iron and minimises anaemia

* Reduces capillary fragility; this helps prevent bruises and easy bleeds.

* May help regulate hormones by decreasing FSH and increasing progesterone

* It’s important to note menopausal women have an increased need for Vitamin C.

Dangers:

Excess Vitamin C is evacuated from the body in the form of diarrhea. Ever ate too much fruit?

Medication interactions:

Vitamin C may reduce the effectiveness of Amphetamine medications such as Adderall. Best to talk to your prescribing doctor before taking Vitamin C.

Fun fact:

What to know how much vitamin C your body needs to reach saturation? There is a test called the Vitamin C bowel tolerance test. Vitamin C is consumed and counted until diarrhoea begins. For example, you can take 1000 mg every hour and see how many hours you can go until you reach your tolerance. It's a good indication of how deficient you are in Vitamin C. Benefits of doing this include increased energy, increased immunity, accelerated healing, improved detoxification.  It's not recommended if you have high iron levels as it increases your iron absorption, or if you have digestive issues such as IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome).