Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an essential water-soluble micronutrient. It is the most effective antioxidant in our blood, due to its water-solubility and to the wide range of radical oxygen species that it can scavenge. It is found in certain foods and supplements.
Health issues that can benefit from vitamin c:
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Cancers
- Atherosclerosis
- Inflammation
- Obesity
Vitamin C is also extremely important as an antioxidant.
It has the ability to neutralize oxygen and nitrogen-based radicals and because it recycles both vitamin E and BH4, which have key antioxidant and enzyme co-factor functions in the body and contribute to brain health.
Vitamin C contributes to many important enzyme reactions, including those leading to the synthesis of norepinephrine, carnitine, cholesterol, amino acids, and several peptide hormones.
Because of its structural similarity to glucose, Vitamin C can replace glucose in many chemical reactions, and it can prevent the non-enzymatic glycosylation of proteins.
