Natural Sources of Vitamin C
Vitamin C is an antioxidant that is naturally found in fruits and vegetables. Vitamin C is a nonsoluble vitamin. Nonsoluble vitamins cannot be stored in your body. You must consume vitamin C every day in order to keep your body functioning at its best. Eating several types of fruit and vegetables a day will help you maintain a steady supply of vitamin C.
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Benefits of Vitamin C
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Vitamin C is well known to help people maintain a healthy immune system. Consuming natural sources of vitamin C can also help protect you against cancer and heart disease. Vitamin C can help to relieve stress, give you energy and increase your absorption of other nutrients, like iron. Vitamin C is needed to make the collagen protein that is found in cartilage, joints, skin and blood vessels.
Vitamin C Deficiency
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If you do not get enough vitamin C you can develop scurvy. Symptoms of scurvy include general weakness, anemia, gum disease and bruising. Although scurvy is seen less often today, it used to be common among sailors making long-distance trips. The sailors' solution was to eat citrus fruits during their journey. You can prevent scurvy by getting an adequate amount of vitamin C on a daily basis.
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Fruits
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Some fruits have more vitamin C than others. Common sources of vitamin C are citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits and tangerines. You can also get vitamin C from bananas, grapes, guavas, kiwifruits, mangoes, melons, papaya, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes and watermelon. Eat fruits that are high in vitamin C but low in sugar to get optimum nutritional benefits.
Vegetables
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You can also get a good amount of vitamin C from certain vegetables. Vegetable sources of vitamin C included broccoli, sweet potatoes, cabbage, potatoes, kale, brussels sprouts, red and green bell peppers and spinach. To receive the most nutrition from the vegetables do not peel them before eating. The vegetable's skin contains the highest amount of nutrients, and throwing away the peel will not do you any good. Baking and steaming vegetables are the cooking methods that retain the most nutrients.
Juices
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You can also get vitamin C from juice. Some fruit juices, like orange juice, are naturally high in vitamin C. Other fruit juices, like apple juice, have vitamin C added to them. You could also get vitamin C vegetable juices such as tomato juice or a vegetable juice cocktail. When buying a juice you should read the food label to verify its vitamin C content.
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