If you have a dog or a cat at home, have you ever looked at their food’s ingredients list? If you have, you may have noticed that vitamin C is never included in the ingredients. That’s because dogs and cats can make their own vitamin C and don’t have to have supplement through their diet.
In fact, pretty much all living organisms on this planet make their own vitamin C except most bats, all guinea pigs, and certain primates, birds and fish. And of course us humans. We have to get our vitamin C through the foods we eat and supplements we take.
So what happens when we don’t get enough vitamin C in our diets? Very bad things.
You may have remembered the stories taught in school about European explorers during the 14th and 15th centuries who started dying in very large numbers of a
…show more content…
How did we lose it? Why did we lose it? We still have the gene, named GULO, to synthesize vitamin C but somehow that gene became broken through years and years (and years and years and years) of mutations.
We may never know why evolution decided we should rely on fruits and vegetables for vitamin C instead of make our own. The important thing is that we do make sure we get enough in our diet. Besides keeping scurvy away, vitamin C has a lot of other benefits.
The Many Benefits of Vitamin C
You’ve known for years that vitamin C helps support your immune system so you can fight of colds and other illnesses, but studies are continually uncovering even more potential health benefits.
May Enhance Iron Absorption
Some scientific research has indicated that vitamin C plays a key role in improving the absorption of iron supplements taken orally.
Lowered Risk for UTIs
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common in the elderly and women during pregnancy, but some research has suggested vitamin C may lower the risk of developing
UV exposure to skin can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) that cause direct chemical alteration in collagen and increase matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) production leading to collagen break down. In addition, ROS produce mediators that cause skin inflammation. Vitamin C neutralizes ROS and is equally effective against UVA (320-400nm) and UVB (290-320 nm) that are produced due to UV exposure and causes skin-aging and sunburns respectively. Vitamin C is most effective as it exerts its action interacellularly and extracellularly (7).
Vitamin C is a necessary vitamin for the body to carry out its functions properly. It is also known as ascorbic acid. It is a water-soluble nutrient that is found in some foods. It acts as an antioxidant in the body which helps to protect cells from the damage caused by free radicals, which are formed when our bodies convert the food we eat into energy. The body needs vitamin C to make collagen which is the protein required in wounds, healing. Moreover, vitamin C promotes the absorption of iron from fruits and vegetables and helps in promoting the immune system. Vitamin C is also important to protect our body from cardiovascular disease, prenatal health problems, eye disease, and skin wrinkling. We can obtain vitamin C from food and other sources.
The best way to raise these numbers is to modify what I give my body each day. Almonds and coconut oil added to my daily routine would enhance the linoleic acid while also being healthy choices. Eating an orange for a snack and adding more vegetables such as peppers, brussel sprouts, or kale to my diet will help me achieve a higher vitamin C count. I love cheese and milk but they have high saturated fat amounts and by limiting them, it also limits my calcium. Green vegetables and salmon are healthy alternatives to calcium intake.
A well-balanced diet contains all the necessary vitamins, and most individuals who follow such a diet can correct any previous vitamin deficiencies. However, persons who are on special diets, who are suffering from intestinal disorders that prevent normal absorption of nutrients, or who are pregnant or lactating may need particular vitamin supplements to bolster their metabolism. Beyond such real needs, vitamin supplements are also often popularly believed to offer "cures" for many diseases, from colds to cancer; but in fact the body quickly eliminates most of these preparations without absorbing them. In addition, the fat-soluble vitamins can block the effect of other vitamins and even cause severe poisoning when taken in excess.
Iron is an essential part of a healthy diet. Iron compounds are employed for medicinal purposes in the treatment of anemia, when the amount of hemoglobin or the number of red blood corpuscles in the blood is lowered.
My average intake is 66 mg. it is lower than the required Vitamin C intake. Deficiency in Vitamin C can develop scurvy, if vitamin C is missing on our diet. Oranges, lemon and other citrus fruits, bell pepper, kiwi broccoli, berries, tomatoes and papayas are rich in Vitamin C . Lack of Vitamin D on diet can develop rickets to small children. The required intake for this vitamins is 15microgram and my report is zero. Vitamin D can be achieved from exposure of skin to ultra violet rays of the sun. Vitamin E is responsible for transmission of nerve impulses, body weakness and eye problem that can cause blindness. My nutrient intake for Vitamin 10 mg AT and the require intake is 15 mg AT, which is 5 mg lower than the require amount. Food related to Vitamin E are green leafy vegies such as spinach, kale are rich in Vitamin E, in addition, broccoli, hazel nuts, squash and pumpkin are also rich in Vitamin E. My vitamin K intake is 3 microgram, way too low compared to the requirement which is 90 microgram. Vitamin K deficiency can cause hemorrhagic disease of new born. Food that gives Vitamin K are green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach, canola oils, olive oils, and
Vitamin A helps a lot in the maintenance of a healthy skin, mucus membrane, teeth and other soft tissues of the body.
Vitamin C also known as ascorbic acid is needed for growth and maintenance of healthy tissues, especially skin, blood vessels, bones, gums, teeth. Vitamin C aids in resistance against infection and healing of wounds. It also helps the body absorb iron from food. Vitamin C can be found in green vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes and citrus fruits such as oranges and lemon. A lack of vitamin C can cause scurvy, iron deficiency and poor wound healing. A healthy diet should include a high amount of vitamin C because the human body cannot produce its own vitamin C.
Today people are concerned with what they eat in order to lose or maintain their weight. What people do not know is how their food is obtained, how veganism is beneficial to their health and what the food industry thinks of vegans. Veganism is the avoidance of any animal products particularly food. Veganism confronts the issues of animal welfare as well as dietary concerns for humans. It is an effective method to live a healthy and humane lifestyle.
Dietary supplements can be a good thing to use but they aren't always what they say they are. They are used by over half of all Americans and those people normally take a multivitamin or protein supplements after their workouts. In fact, whey protein is the most supplied dietary supplements among all Americans. People would also say that supplements are helpful when they become older in age, but then those people who believe supplements do not work at all. What they don't know is that if individuals take too much or too many supplements, it could hurt them and not benefit these people.
Food is a major part of everyone’s everyday life. It’s hard to imagine life without the chocolate cake on your fingers or a carne asada taco in your mouth. Enjoying delicious desserts and fast food seem extremely magnificent to eat and spend money buying them. Although, there have been many controversies in the United States on how it’s the largest country with the most obesity regarding children, which affects their health, many people are still going throughout their day snacking. Many people in America are having full course meals with thousands of calories in one sitting not knowing the short term or long term side effects that are going to take a huge toll on their lives. Food is delicious, but it comes with a secret behind the savoriness/sweetness.
“Healthy eating” means eating a variety of foods that gives you the nutrients you need to maintain your health, feeling good with your health conditions, and having enough energy throughout the day (Nordqvist). A poor diet can cause harm a person’s daily life activities. Research from Eating Healthy Might Prove Too Expensive for Poor ABC News shows, that the price of eating healthy foods may be expensive to a family who earns a low-income. So, eating fast foods may be more convenient for them knowing that the prices are way less. However, everyone should make the effort to stop eating foods that will later on harm your health. As mentioned in the article “Healthy Eating”, “Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically
Nowadays, healthy is the number one individual and also governmental concern. As the saying goes, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ is clearly show that eat nutritious food such as fruits and vegetables can provide a good health and can prevent us from harmful diseases. As we know, vegetables provided various types of vitamins needed by the body for instance pumpkin contains a lot of vitamin A, tomatoes contain vitamin C and spinach contains folate. Pumpkin is one of nature’s riches sources of alpha-carotene, a carotenoid that converts to retinol which is a form of vitamin A. The amount of vitamin A that contain in the pumpkin per serving (116g) is 171%, vitamin C 17%, calcium 2% and iron 5% (Pumpkin raw, 2014). There are a lot of benefits when consuming vitamin A, for example this vitamin promotes healthy vision, bone growth, reproduction and help boosts our immune system. Apart from that, a diet high in vitamin A may lower the risk of many types of cancer. Besides, some vegetables also contain a lot of vitamin C such as tomatoes, bell peppers and broccoli. The function of vitamin C is it helps heal the wounds and keep away the body from bacterial infection. According to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, they discovered that vitamin C can kill drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) bacteria (Libov, 2013, para. 3). Besides that, vitamin C
Nutrition is the process of obtaining and consuming the right nutrients you need in order to grow and survive. These nutrients consist of water, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, and fats. What you choose to eat has a significant impact on your well being, growth and overall health. Bad nutrition can lead to lifelong consequences such as Diabetes, High blood pressure, Obesity, Cardiovascular disease and even some Cancers. A healthy diet helps people manage a desirable body weight and composition that allows them to do their daily mental and physical activities (Youdim 1). If you eat the correct meals it provides energy and even helps boost your immune system. There are many examinations available to you to check if you’re on the
The nutrients we get from eating fruits and vegetables are also very important in our daily diet. When we eat anything we get nutrients from it, but the question is are we eating too much? Too much of a good thing can be bad! The different vitamins have many different purposes, vitamin A keeps the eyes and skin healthy and helps protect against infections. Vitamin C helps heal cuts and wounds and keeps your teeth and gums healthy.