Super Food: Vitamin C

I grew up hearing lots of old wives tales and superstition about Vitamin C so it was difficult for me to write this entry. Difficult because everything I read in my research enforced what I had been told about Vitamin C as a child. I thought I was going to go digging and find that everything I thought I knew about Vitamin C was a joke and that dietary supplements are about as useful as a magnetic bracelet, but apparently – the old wives were right.

Vitamin C, (or Ascorbic Acid) is a kick-ass vitamin, and you need it in your diet every day.

Vitamin C aids in collagen structures and therefore is good for the skin and cellular health including wound healing and ocular health. Since it is an anti-oxidant it is said to help the body remove the free radicles that cause cancer from outside toxins including cigarette smoke.  Vitamin C is even shown to reduce the risk of stroke in some studies. During sickness and stress the levels of Vitamin C in white blood cells is depleted, which is why your mother always gave you orange juice when you got sick as a child.  I wouldn't recommend juice, but if you get sick, avoid further complications (like pneumonia) by loading up on your Ascorbic Acid intake!

I imagine our hunter gather ancestors had their fill of Vitamin C because high amounts of it can be easily incorporated into a diet high in vegetables. Check out these common fruits and veggies and how high in Vitamin C (given their low calorie content) they are.

Spinach 51 mg (20 calories a cup)
Red Pepper 190 mg (50 calories a piece)
Kale 186 mg
Broccoli 113 mg
Parsley 9mg (2 tablespoons)
Green Peas 27 mg
Tomatoes 23 mg (60 calories a piece)
Strawberries 59 mg (100 calories a cup)
Carrots (raw) 9 mg (surprisingly low - but still healthy)

Delicious!

Other foods that contain Vitamin C: famously; limes but also garlic, blueberries, cabbage, apricots, shiitake mushrooms, avocado, corn, yam... the list goes on

Some words of warning: Vitamin C is destroyed when exposed to air, so if you cut up oranges for your kids, beware that about 40% of the Vitamin C is gone by the time they go for them at lunch. If you are a Whole Foods salad bar person, understand that the early morning slicing of the fruits and veggies they set out for you greatly reduces your Ascorbic Acid intake by the time you get there for your late 2:00 lunch. If you eat too much Vitamin C you are likely to get some pretty severe cramps. Vitamin C needs vary greatly from person to person, so you’ll have to use some self analysis to see how much is too much. The rule of thumb is 1500 to 2000 mg a day, but the RDA is much lower than that, closer to 60 mg a day.

So - enjoy your Vitamin C (but please without the juice).

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Next Time on Popular Excues:  Too Fat to Fight
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Reading List:
"Healing Foods" Michael Murry N.D p. 112
WHFoods: Vitamin C
VitaminCfoundation.org/
Web MD Vitamin C