Scientists have found that vitamin C is concentrated in certain parts of the body such as the adrenal glands. It is also contained in the white blood cells, and the liver, the organ that cleans poisons out of our blood. The vitamin is also richly supplied to the brain. It plays an important part in the body’s immunity system. Research indicates that vitamin C enhances the body’s production of interferon, prostaglandins, T-lymphocytes and immunoglobins, weapons in the body’s self-defense arsenal.

According to an expert, “The difference between quick recovery and prolonged sickness, or death, might depend on how much vitamin C the body has available when the germs of viruses invade it.”

Vitamin C also seems helpful in opening up stuffy breathing passages and has been shown to increase the body’s supply of oxygen. It detoxifies a wide range of poisons and helps clear our toxic metals such as lead and mercury out of the system. It has also been noted that the vitamin enhances the effects of aspirins and antibiotics.

But one expert believes that millions of enough vitamin C to ward off colds, other diseases and infections, or to produce the collagen “glue” the body uses to heal wounds and to rebuild tissue.

Scurvy is rare among animals because virtually every animal manufactures its own vitamin C. One of the few living things that cannot do it, however, is man. To maintain itself, the human body normally stores a month’s supply of the vitamin, roughly 1500 mg. for a man and slightly more for a woman. But illness and stress can substantially decrease the body’s vitamin C reserves. A 1971 study in Scotland showed that within 24 hours after the onset of a cold, the level of vitamin C stored in the victim’s white blood cells fell drastically and was close to the level of people suffering from scurvy.

Should you take vitamin C supplements? The answer may depend on who you are and how much you already get in your daily diet. Among the factors to consider; older people require more vitamin C than young people; stress may deplete the vitamin in the body, as can smoking, drinking and a variety of drugs. It may also vary with the time of the year. People seem to have the lowest level during the cold months.

Filed under: Healthy Tips by Don