Vary your diet for vitamin C

By David Carter | The Natchez Democrat

Published Sunday, August 26, 2007

The Adams County Extension Service has a wide variety of specialists to help with everyday needs. This week I received some food and nutrition questions, so today let’s talk a little about health and diets. I have asked Ms. Natasha Haynes our area extension nutrition and food safety agent to help address advantages to maintaining a good diet.

Q. How important is Vitamin C to our diet?

Most of us recognize the importance of vitamin C and the benefits of a glass of orange juice in the morning. But, vitamin C is found in more than just orange juice. There are many other foods that we can choose in order to add vitamin C to our diets.

We have only known about vitamin C for less than a century, but the importance of vitamin C was recognized long ago, even before it had a name. There was a severe nutritional deficiency affecting many sailors, who would set off on long sea voyages, many never to return. This deficiency, known as scurvy, was a very painful disease, leading to the loss of hair and teeth, depression, blindness and eventually death. Of course today, we don’t see many cases of scurvy because our diets have improved dramatically in the last several hundred years and we recognize the importance vitamins and minerals play in the prevention of disease and deficiency.

Vitamin C helps our bodies produce collagen, which is a connective tissue that is necessary in holding our muscles, bones, and other tissues together. It helps keep blood vessel walls firm and protects us from bruising too easily. It keeps our gums healthy and helps heal any cuts and wounds. Vitamin C also helps our body absorb iron and folic acid from plant sources of food. It helps protect us from infection by helping our bodies boost immunity through the formation of important antibodies. Finally it is an antioxidant, which helps to prevent damage to our body’s cells.

If we consistently consume too little, we may find that there can be a negative effect on things we see like slowed wound healing. However, the greater risk may be the things we can’t see like reduced absorption of other important vitamins or minerals. It is important to remember that vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, which means that it does not stay in the body for a long period of time before it is excreted. Another reason it is important to consume vitamin C containing foods every day.

Q. What foods contain vitamin C?

There are several other foods, besides oranges and citrus fruits, which provide vitamin C. Broccoli provides as much vitamin C as an orange. It is found in strawberries, cantaloupe, tomato juice, a baked potato with skin, collard greens and raw spinach. Incorporating these foods into your daily meals will help you not only meet your need for vitamin C, but also provide you with other nutrients that are unique to those foods.

Supplements for vitamin C are available, but are often less effective, and can be more expensive when compared to the whole food. So, keep drinking that glass of 100 percent orange juice in the morning, but consider choosing other foods as well in an attempt to add variety to your daily meals.

For more information you can contact myself at dcarter@ext.msstate.edu or Natasha Haynes at natashah@ext.msstate.edu. You can also visit the Mississippi State University Extension Service website at www.msucares.com.

David Carter is director of the Adams County Extension Service.