5 Incredible Ways Vitamin C Benefits Your Body

Vitamin C is an essential vitamin that your body cannot produce but plays many roles in ensuring your best health.

This important vitamin is naturally sourced from fruits and vegetables, including strawberries, oranges, bell peppers, kale, broccoli, and spinach.

Here are 5 incredible ways Vitamin C benefits your body:

1. Lowers Risk For Heart Disease

Many factors put you at greater risk for heart disease, like, high levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol and low levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol, high blood pressure, and elevated triglycerides.

Vitamin C may help reduce these risk factors and lower your risk for heart disease.

Researches done on 293,172 participants found that over the course of 10 years, people who took at least 700mg of Vitamin C daily had 25% lower risk of heart disease than those who didn’t.

2. Help Lower High Blood Pressure

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that a third of the American adult population have high blood pressure.

High blood pressure puts you at risk of developing heart disease, a leading cause of death worldwide.

Studies show that Vitamin C helps lower blood pressure by relaxing the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart.

However, it cannot be used to replace high blood pressure medications.

3. Reduce Risk Of Chronic Diseases

Vitamin C has strong antioxidant properties that help strengthen your body’s immune system. Antioxidants help eliminate free radicals that are closely linked to many chronic diseases.

Researches show that daily intake of Vitamin C will boost your body’s antioxidant levels to 30% and help improve your body’s natural defenses against inflammation.

4. Improve Iron Absorption

Iron is an important nutrient that ensures proper transportation of oxygen and red blood cells throughout the body.

Vitamin C helps improve your body’s absorption of iron from your diet. Scientific sources say that simply consuming 100 mg of Vitamin C improves iron absorption by 67%.

5. Prevent Gout Attacks

Gouty arthritis affects about 4% of American adults.

Gout symptoms occur when there is too much uric acid in the blood. Uric acid is a waste product produced by the body and at high levels, it may crystallize and deposit in the joints.

Several research studies found that Vitamin C may contribute to reducing uric acid levels in the body. A study done on 1,387 men found that people who consumed more Vitamin C exhibited significant lowering of uric acid levels.

Read the full article by Healthline here.