Because your body can’t create Vitamin C on its own, it’s crucial that you read on to learn how to tap into the best Vitamin C sources instead.
Does Vitamin C Boost the Immune System?
Yes, Vitamin C does help boost your immune system.
But it’s tricky because it doesn’t seem to have any effect on protecting you from getting sick in the first place.
But it still plays an important role in staying healthy since researchers found having a lot of Vitamin C helps you recover from something like the common cold a lot faster.
For vegetarians and vegans, Vitamin C is even more important because it actually helps you absorb iron better (especially if you have Vitamin C-rich foods together with iron-rich foods) something our bodies don’t do well on their own with non-heme, plant-food iron.
How Vitamin C Works Together with Your Cells
When you eat foods with Vitamin C, most of it goes to your white blood cells.
And while there are many different types of white blood cells, some have as much as 80% more vitamin C than other cell types.
Plus, the white blood cells that vitamin C works with are part of your cellular immune system.
They activate macrophages, your “natural killer cells”, and the T-lymphocytes that target toxins or other foreign substances.
T- lymphocytes are also known as T cells and they help make cytokines, or proteins that have an anti-inflammation property.
Vitamin C is essential here, as it helps keep your T cells healthy and producing the right amount of cytokines to protect your body.
Vitamin C also helps your phagocytes produce nitrogen oxide, which is how these immune system cells kill virus cells and other pathogens.
As you can see, Vitamin C is critical in monitoring your immune response and overall cell health.
How To Get Enough Vitamin C
Too much of a good thing can quickly become a bad thing.
Vitamin C is no exception.
Adults only need between 65mg and 90mg of Vitamin C a day, which you can get from 1 medium orange.
But what other foods are rich in vitamin C for when you’ve got no oranges laying about?
- Red, green, or yellow peppers
- Sweet potatoes
Just keep in mind that an orange a day is plenty to keep your tank filled with Vitamin C and your immune system strong.