Many people believe that the minute they get a bad cold, Vitamin C will help them get rid of those symptoms. I am at fault also for this practice. I just get to feeling so bad with the cold symptoms that I run for the Vitamin C and take about 2,000 mg every two hours for a few days. I figure, what can it hurt? Vitamin C is water soluble, so what the body does not use it gets rid of through the kidneys. There is not any harm in doing this but research has not yet found any benefit to Vitamin C decreasing symptoms of a cold or the flu.

Vitamin C is a very important vitamin as it maintains capillaries, cartilage, teeth, and bones. It helps to produce new collagen. It increases the absorption of iron and it prevents the oxidation of fatty acids.

If you become deficient in Vitamin C, symptoms can include easy bruising of the skin, a slow healing process, dry skin, loss of appetite, lose teeth and bleeding gums. In very extreme cases of lack of Vitamin C there may be a diagnosis of scurvy.

Scurvy is not likely seen in the United States because all we need of this vitamin is only 5-10 mg, and this is very easy to get even if we are not eating the right foods. Scurvy also tends to be seen in alcoholics, if their primary source of calories is alcohol. It can be seen in people who are already ill, and people who often follow fad diets.

Like I already mentioned, short-term use of large doses of Vitamin C that are not used by the body are just excreted through the kidneys. If you make a practice of long term use of high doses of Vitamin C you may have bouts of diarrhea. An irritation of urinary tract may also develop due to an increase in acid in the urine. Kidney stones could become a problem. Vitamin C can leave deposits in the heart and other tissues. It can cause blood damage and excessive iron binding. Good sources of Vitamin C are found in citrus fruits, melons, berries, kiwis, green vegetables, sweet potatoes, peppers and plantains.

I mentioned in one of my previous articles that if you over cook vegetables you can destroy many of these nutrients. Vitamin C is one of these vitamins. It is a fragile vitamin. You can destroy some of the nutrients through food preparation such as soaking too long in water, exposure to air, handling food items too much and in the cutting process. Even though some of the Vitamin C is lost during food preparation enough Vitamin C remains to be of great benefit.

Here's to your health and well-being

References *The Cornell Encyclopedia of Health*