Vitamin C is an essential vitamin, and one with which we are all familiar.
How many times did you see advertisements (particularly for orange juice) highlighting the benefits and importance of vitamin C?!
More than you can remember.
Yet, while we all know that vitamin C is important, most of us don’t exactly know why our bodies need it on a daily basis or what it exactly does in the body.
Today, we highlight 6 important reasons why you need vitamin C.
Top 6 Reasons You Need Vitamin C
#1 Collagen Production
Vitamin C is absolutely vital to the synthesis of collagen in the body.
Why is collagen important?
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body, and it is the primary protein in the extracellular matrix in the various connective tissues in the body as well as your skin, hair, and nails.
Vitamin C serves as an essential cofactor for the two enzymes required for collagen synthesis[1]:
● prolyl hydroxylase (to stabilize the collagen molecule)
● lysyl hydroxylase (to give structural strength cross-linking)
By supporting collagen synthesis, vitamin C also promotes anti-aging effects since it can help improve the quality and appearance of your external and internal structures.
Due to the supporting role vitamin C plays in collagen production, many of our customers find it helpful to stack their daily serving of 1UP Hydrolyzed Collagen Peptides with their daily 1UP Men’s or Women’s Multi-Go.
Stacking these two products supplies the body with the essential nutrients it needs to support collagen synthesis helping your internal and external structures look and feel their best.
#2 Wound Healing
Since vitamin C is involved in the production of collagen, and collagen is the main protein found in your skin, it stands to reason that vitamin C would play an important role in wound healing.
In fact, research shows that the vitamin can help speed the wound healing process.[2,3]
The opposite is also true -- deficiencies in vitamin C are known to impair the wound healing process.[4]
#3 Supports Immune Function
Immunity is a big buzzword these days, and vitamin C has long been known to play an important role in immune function.
Beyond its role as an antioxidant (which we’ll discuss next), vitamin C also supports the production of white blood cells (phagocytes and lymphocytes, specifically), which help protect the body against infection.[5]
Vitamin C also helps phagocytes and lymphocytes operate more effectively while protecting them from potential damage induced by free radicals.
As if that weren’t enough, vitamin C also plays a key role in the skin’s defense system against external microbes, where it fortifies the skin’s protective barrier and acts as an antioxidant...which brings us to the next reason why you need vitamin C...
#4 Combats Free Radicals
Vitamin C’s most well-known attribute may be that of an antioxidant, which bolsters the body’s natural defense mechanisms.[can strengthen your body’s natural defenses.[6]
Antioxidants are compounds that support health and wellness by protecting cells from harmful molecules called free radicals.
If left unchecked, free-wheeling free radicals can lead to oxidative stress and inflammation, which is known to be a contributing factor to many chronic diseases.[7]
In fact, research indicates that increasing one’s intake of vitamin C may increase blood antioxidant levels up to 30%, which supports the body’s ability to combat systemic inflammation.[8]
#5 Supports Nitric Oxide Production & Pumps!
For those looking to support cardiovascular health, improve exercise performance, and get better muscle pumps, consuming enough vitamin C is a must.
In fact, a meta-analysis found that vitamin C supplementation helped reduce systolic blood pressure by 3.8 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 1.5 mmHg, on average, in healthy adults.[9]
Vitamin C supports nitric oxide production increasing its bioavailability, and it also increases activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) -- the enzyme that catalyzes the production of nitric oxide.[10,11]
#6 Boosts Dopamine
Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter (signalling molecule in the brain) that plays vital roles in mood, motivation, motor control, decision making and exercise performance.
Vitamin C is involved in the biosynthesis of the mood-boosting neurotransmitter, and it also serves as cofactor the enzyme dopamine β-hydroxylase, which converts dopamine to norepinephrine.[12]
Vitamin C also helps prevent dopamine from being oxidized into its inactive form.
Perhaps most interesting is that vitamin C availability has been shown to enhance the effects of various stimulants.[13,14]
How Much Vitamin C Do I Need?
The current Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C is as follows[14]:
Age
Male
Female
Pregnancy
Lactating
14-18 years
75mg
65mg
80mg
115mg
19+ Years
90mg
75mg
80mg
120mg
What Foods are High in Vitamin C?
Looking to increase your intake of vitamin C with whole food options?
Here is a list of some of our favorite foods that are high in vitamin C:
● Guava
● Kiwi
● Bell peppers
● Strawberries
● Oranges
● Papaya
● Broccoli
● Tomatoes
● Snow Peas
● Kale (leafy greens)
What Supplements Contain Vitamin C?
Vitamin C is an essential vitamin that serves a number of important roles in the body. As a water-soluble vitamin, the body doesn’t store vast reserves of the vitamin, which means you need to get it in daily.
To help you meet your daily vitamin C requirements, we’ve included a quality dose of the essential micronutrient in both our 1UP Men’s and Women’s Multi-Go as well as our daily fiber supplement -- Fiber Plus, which contains 500mg vitamin C along with 8 grams of natural fiber and probiotics for gut health support.
References
1. Dayan, N. (2008). Skin aging handbook: An integrated approach to biochemistry and product development. William Andrew Pub.
2. Moores J. Vitamin C: a wound healing perspective. Br J Community Nurs. 2013;Suppl:S6-S11. doi:10.12968/bjcn.2013.18.sup12.s6
3. Ringsdorf WM Jr, Cheraskin E. Vitamin C and human wound healing. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1982;53(3):231-236. doi:10.1016/0030-4220(82)90295-x
4. Bikker, A., Wielders, J., Van Loo, R., & Loubert, M. (2016). Ascorbic acid deficiency impairs wound healing in surgical patients: Four case reports. International Journal of Surgery Open, 2, 15-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijso.2016.02.009
5. Huijskens MJ, Walczak M, Koller N, et al. Technical advance: ascorbic acid induces development of double-positive T cells from human hematopoietic stem cells in the absence of stromal cells. J Leukoc Biol. 2014;96(6):1165-1175. doi:10.1189/jlb.1TA0214-121RR
6. Alessio, H. M., Goldfarb, A. H., & Cao, G. (1997). Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress before and after Vitamin C Supplementation, International Journal of Sport Nutrition, 7(1), 1-9. https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/7/1/article-p1.xml
7. Pham-Huy LA, He H, Pham-Huy C. Free radicals, antioxidants in disease and health. Int J Biomed Sci. 2008;4(2):89-96.
8. Kim MK, Sasazuki S, Sasaki S, Okubo S, Hayashi M, Tsugane S. Effect of five-year supplementation of vitamin C on serum vitamin C concentration and consumption of vegetables and fruits in middle-aged Japanese: a randomized controlled trial. J Am Coll Nutr. 2003;22(3):208-216. doi:10.1080/07315724.2003.10719295
9. Juraschek SP, Guallar E, Appel LJ, Miller ER 3rd. Effects of vitamin C supplementation on blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;95(5):1079-1088. doi:10.3945/ajcn.111.027995
10. Mortensen A, Lykkesfeldt J. Does vitamin C enhance nitric oxide bioavailability in a tetrahydrobiopterin-dependent manner? In vitro, in vivo and clinical studies. Nitric Oxide. 2014;36:51-57. doi:10.1016/j.niox.2013.12.001
11. d'Uscio LV, Milstien S, Richardson D, Smith L, Katusic ZS. Long-term vitamin C treatment increases vascular tetrahydrobiopterin levels and nitric oxide synthase activity. Circ Res. 2003;92(1):88-95. doi:10.1161/01.res.0000049166.33035.62
12. Harrison, F.E., & May, J.M. (2009). Vitamin C function in the brain: vital role of the ascorbate transporter SVCT2. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 46(6), 719-30.
13. Ballaz, S.J., & Rebec, G.V. (2019). Neurobiology of vitamin C: expanding the focus from antioxidant to endogenous neuromodulator. Pharmacological Research, 146, 104321
14. Harrison FE, May JM. Vitamin C function in the brain: vital role of the ascorbate transporter SVCT2. Free Radic Biol Med. 2009;46(6):719-730. doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2008.12.018
15. Institute of Medicine. Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000.
