3 Benefits of Vitamin C for Skin
Nourishing your body with a balanced and healthy diet is key to achieving overall wellness. When you give your body the right nutrition, you’ll see and feel the difference. One nutrient that can have a powerful impact on your skin’s appearance is vitamin C.
You may know vitamin C as the immune system’s superhero, but it’s also crucial for many other systems and tissues in your body. Let’s take a closer look at how vitamin C supports your general health and helps your skin look its best.
What Is Vitamin C?
Vitamins are organic compounds used by the body to help with several bodily functions. The body can produce many vitamins, but some can only be obtained through your diet. These vitamins include vitamins A, C, D, E, K and B vitamins.
Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) is particularly important within the body, where it supports immunity, skin health, metabolism and oxidative balance. Vitamin C also plays a role in the biosynthesis of crucial molecules within the body, like certain neurotransmitters, L-carnitine and collagen.
Sources of Vitamin C
Vitamin C is naturally occurring in many different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Many people associate oranges as being a good source of vitamin C. The vitamin is also found in relatively high concentrations in sweet peppers, grapefruit, kiwi, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach and even potatoes.
How Much Vitamin C Do I Need?
Vitamin C is one of 13 essential vitamins you can only obtain through your diet, so ensuring you are getting enough daily dietary vitamin C is important to allow your body to work at its best.
The current Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin C is 90 mg for adult men and 75 mg for women. The recommendations can also increase with pregnancy or for breastfeeding. Getting this amount of vitamin C can be as easy as having a red sweet pepper or one and a half oranges, but it can be difficult to maintain on a daily basis.
Many people opt for a vitamin C supplement like JSHealth Vitamin C+. This supplement offers vitamin C in two different forms, bioflavonoids and quercetin, to support skin and immune system health. This blend ensures you consistently meet the vitamin C RDA to support your body better.
What Are the General Benefits of Vitamin C?
Vitamin C is a molecule involved in several processes within the body. Below is a closer look at some of the general benefits of vitamin C on your overall health.
Supports Immune Health
Many people take vitamin C supplements in preparation for the flu season or if they plan on traveling to support their immunity. A better approach to supporting your immune health through vitamin C is to take it consistently to ensure you meet your RDA.
Vitamin C helps support a healthy immune system by interacting with immune cells to improve their response to foreign invaders. A daily dose of vitamin C can ensure that the immune system has all the L-ascorbic acid it needs to initiate a swift immune response.
Research has shown that regularly supplementing vitamin C can help support the immune system as it tackles illnesses like the common cold.
Helps Your Body Absorb Iron
Did you know that vitamin C can do more than just boosting your immune system? One of its lesser-known benefits is that it can help your body absorb non-heme iron from non-animal sources.
This is because the structure of vitamin C interacts with non-heme iron in a way that makes it more bioavailable for absorption in the digestive tract, allowing your body to absorb and use it more readily.
Iron plays an important role within the body, acting as a structural unit of hemoglobin responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the bloodstream. For vegetarian or vegan individuals, non-heme sources of iron tend to predominate their iron consumption. Adding some vitamin C can help ensure adequate iron dietary intake.
Prevents Vitamin C Deficiency
A key benefit to taking vitamin C is avoiding the potential of dealing with a vitamin C deficiency. Slight deficiencies in vitamin C can cause longer wound healing times, weight loss and negative mood changes.
Severe vitamin C deficiency, however, can be potentially dangerous to your health and lead to a condition known as scurvy. Scurvy can cause anemia, bleeding gums, excessive bruising and poor wound healing.
While it’s unlikely for those following a typical Western diet to develop scurvy, adding a vitamin C supplement to your routine can give you peace of mind and help ensure you’re getting all the benefits this nutrient has to offer.
Supports Eye Health
Another general benefit of vitamin C that most people are unaware of is that it can play a supporting role in maintaining good eye health. Research has found that taking vitamin C alongside other nutrients like vitamin E, zinc, lutein and zeaxanthin can support overall eye health.
Benefits of Vitamin C on Skin
Vitamin C has long been associated with supporting optimal immune health, but did you know it’s also a powerhouse ingredient for glowing skin? In fact, it’s become increasingly popular for its profound effects on skin health and appearance.
The best part? You can directly nourish your skin with topical vitamin C products like our BALANCING VITAMIN CLEANSER. Keep reading for a closer look at some of the most prominent benefits vitamin C can offer your skin.
Slow Signs of Aging
Aging is an unavoidable process for everyone, but the rate at which you visibly age can differ from person to person. Some people look youthful well into their late adulthood, while others seem to age prematurely.
Certain uncontrollable factors play into how fast you age, such as genetics, but how well you care for your skin certainly has an impact. There is no shame in the aging process, but there are ways to support your skin health along the way.
Vitamin C can be a welcome part of any skincare routine as it helps to nourish the skin directly. When used consistently, topical vitamin C can help minimize signs of early skin aging, protect your skin against sun damage and support overall skin appearance.
Protect Against Oxidative Damage
Vitamin C plays many important roles within the body, and one crucial property of vitamin C is that it acts as a potent antioxidant. Antioxidants are molecules that help combat the effects of environmental stressors.
This form of chemical stress (oxidative stress) is caused by free radical molecules that steal electrons from surrounding structures. Antioxidants work by neutralizing these reactive molecules to help prevent damage at a cellular level.
The skin is frequently bombarded with free radicals and constantly exposed to the elements. Topical application of vitamin C can help deliver antioxidant support directly to the skin and help to combat oxidative stress, which can contribute to premature signs of aging.
Support Healthy Complexion
Many people incorporate vitamin C into their daily skin routine for its beneficial impact on skin complexion. The underlying reason for this is that vitamin C plays an integral supporting role in the production of collagen, specifically type 1 collagen. Collagen can help maintain a supple, radiant glow in our skin.
Collagen synthesis tends to slow as you age. Applying topical vitamin C may support adequate collagen synthesis to maintain youthful-looking skin.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, vitamin C is an essential nutrient that plays a vital role in several bodily functions, including immune health, skin health and metabolism. This nutrient can only be obtained through the diet, so it is important to consume adequate amounts of vitamin C regularly.
In addition to maintaining overall health, vitamin C can help prevent a vitamin C deficiency, protect against oxidative stress and support eye health. For those looking to maintain adequate levels of nutrition, supplements from JSHealth can provide an effective way to do so.
Sources:
Vitamin C | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Vitamin C - Health Professional Fact Sheet | National Institutes of Health
Why is topical vitamin C important for skin health? | Harvard Medical School
Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold | NCBI