Would Your Skin Benefit from Vitamin C?

Vitamin C plays many vital roles within the human body, but one of the lesser-known functions is in the health of your skin. Unfortunately, due to decreased naturally occurring vitamin C in foods, it's likely that you're not getting enough to reap the full benefits of the essential vitamin.

Vitamin C supplementation will not only boost your immune system and reduce your risk of heart disease, it will also leave your skin youthful and glowing!

Vitamin C 101:

Vitamin C is one of the essential vitamins, meaning your body cannot produce it, yet it is necessary for normal growth and development. Vitamin C is also water-soluble, meaning the human body cannot store it for later use- for optimal health, you must have a steady influx of the vitamin through your diet or supplementation.

Vitamin C plays a vital role in the growth and repair of many tissues throughout your body. It is used to heal wounds and form scar tissue; repair and maintain cartilage, bones, and teeth; aid in the absorption of iron; and is used in the formation of an important protein used to make skin, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels.

Beyond growth and healing, Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant, meaning it will block damage created by free radicals. Without the assistance of antioxidants, the body will become overwhelmed by free radicals and result in oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can lead to heart disease, cancer, arthritis, strokes, respiratory diseases, immune deficiency, and other inflammatory conditions. Vitamin C will assist in preventing such illnesses and boost your overall health.

Vitamin C from your diet:

Vitamin C is present in many fruits and vegetables including:

• Citrus fruit

• Peppers

• Strawberries

• Broccoli

• Brussel sprouts

• Lemons

• Potatoes

• Blackcurrants

Unfortunately, our food supply contains much less vitamin C than it did even 20 years ago, due to the high amounts of pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics (glyphosate) in our soil.

Foods that are organic and not exposed to such harmful chemicals will contain the highest amounts of vitamin C and other nutrients.

Benefits of Vitamin C:

As described above, vitamin C plays a vital role in maintaining normal growth and development. Unfortunately, for many people, taking a vitamin C supplement is necessary to glean the full benefits. Many studies have been done on the benefits of taking a vitamin C supplement. The scientifically proven benefits include:

• Reduce your risk of chronic disease. Due to its antioxidant properties, Vitamin C will boost your immune system by protecting cells against harmful free radicals. Studies show that consuming vitamin C can increase your blood antioxidant levels by up to 30%. This assists the body in fighting inflammation and chronic disease.

• Help manage high blood pressure. Animal studies have suggested that taking a vitamin C supplement will help relax the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart, which will help to reduce blood pressure levels. An analysis of 29 human studies on adults with high blood pressure, vitamin C supplements reduced diastolic blood pressure by 1.5 mmHg and systolic blood pressure by 3.8 mmHg. Another study found a diastolic reduction of 1.7 mmHg and a systolic reduction of 4.9 mmHg.

• Lower your risk of heart disease. Vitamin C has been demonstrated to reduce the risk factors of heart disease, such as high blood pressure, high triglyceride, and high LDL cholesterol levels. An analysis of 9 studies found that people who took at least 700 mg of vitamin C every day had a 25% lower risk of heart disease than those who did not take a vitamin C supplement. A second analysis of 15 studies found that even consuming high amounts of vitamin C through diet was linked to a lower risk of heart disease.

• Help prevent iron deficiency. Vitamin C can help improve the absorption of iron from the diet. This is because vitamin C assists in converting poorly absorbed iron, like that found in plants, into a form that is easier to absorb. This is especially beneficial to those following a vegetarian or vegan diet. According to one study, consuming 100 mg of vitamin C can improve iron absorption by 67%. This can greatly reduce the risk of anemia for those prone to iron deficiency.

• Boost your immunity. Vitamin C will assist in boosting your immunity in a number of ways. Vitamin C will encourage the production of white blood cells, which fight off infection. Further, vitamin C will assist white blood cells to function more effectively by protecting them from free radical damage. Vitamin C is also essential in the skin's defense system, it helps to strengthen the skin's barriers through its antioxidant properties. Studies have also found that vitamin C can shorten wound healing time.

A lesser-known benefit of Vitamin C supplementation is in its benefits for collagen production and the overall health and appearance of your skin.

Vitamin C & collagen:

Collagen is the most commonly found protein in the human body. It is found in tendons, ligaments, and fat. Collagen assists in bone structure and how our body fits together. The more collagen in our cells, the more youthful and strong the body will function. Many studies have demonstrated that vitamin C will boost collagen synthesis. This is because vitamin C acts as a co-factor for two amino acids, proline and lysine, that stabilize the tertiary structure of collagen and promote collagen gene expressions.

At the Johnson Center, we recommend taking vitamin C, proline, and lysine supplements instead of a collagen supplement. This is because collagen can be hard to absorb on its own. Rather, supplementing the easily absorbed ingredients your body uses to make collagen (vitamin C, proline, and lysine), collagen to be produced naturally.

Further, collagen functions in a domino effect. The more collagen you have, the more collagen the body is able to produce and maintain. Taking a vitamin C, proline, and lysine supplement will bolster this process and leave your skin youthful and glowing. When the body is deficient in these nutrients, the collagen produced will be unstable and less efficient in tissue repair and wound healing.

Vitamin C Flush:

A vitamin C flush is a great way to determine how much vitamin C your body needs on a daily basis. It is also a great way to detoxify your body. In a vitamin C flush, you introduce high amounts of vitamin C into the body at regular intervals until the intestines flush themselves with a watery stool. The flush will not only leave your body refreshed and rejuvenated, but it will also boost your body's vitamin C supply and increase the absorption rate.

A vitamin C flush can easily be done with an ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) powder like this one.

How to do a vitamin C flush:

1. Take 500mg of vitamin C in a half glass of water every twenty to thirty minutes, keeping track of the total amount of ascorbic acid taken.

2. Continue this process until you have a soupy, watery stool.

3. Once you reach loose stool, multiply by the amount of total vitamin C taken by .75 and this will be the amount of vitamin C you should take daily.

To optimize your vitamin C flush, start in the morning on an empty stomach! It will likely take between 2 to 4 hours, but it varies based on your vitamin C levels. Be sure to drink enough water during the flush and eat some bone broth to replace lost minerals.

If you're interested in Vitamin C, proline, or lysine supplementation, click here to contact us! We can also perform blood testing to see exactly what your vitamin C levels are and determine what supplementation is best for you.

At the Johnson Center, we only advocate and recommended the highest quality supplements to our patients. Many of the supplements are used by Dr. Johnson herself. We would never recommend a supplement we don't trust!

The Johnson Center for Health services patients in-person in our Blacksburg and Virginia Beach / Norfolk locations. We also offer telemedicine for residents of Virginia and North Carolina!