In our quest for beautiful skin and wellbeing, we often forget to focus on the essential building blocks of age defying beauty and health.

Could you have an unknown vitamin C deficiency?

In my nutrition practice, many clients are very surprised to come up vitamin C deficient in their bio resonance test.  They are not smokers (we all know this alone uses up a lot of our reserves) but with stress and pollution being part of our daily lives, vitamin C gets used up pretty fast.  It’s also a great antioxidant that protect our skin from free radical damage and reduce signs of ageing.

According to Dr Thomas Levy who wrote the book “Primal Panacea” on the subject of vitamin C “Although our bodies, in contrast to most other animals, have lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C in the liver, it still remains clear that vitamin C is nature’s choice for restoring and maintaining health. Vitamin C does cure, or help to cure, a wide array of infections for which modern medicine offers little to nothing of substance in the treatment of those conditions.”  Read the full article here.

Can I be vitamin C deficient even if I eat 5+ portions of fruit and vegetables?

In a word, yes! Especially when life puts more demand on you, vitamin C is essential to keep your energy-giving adrenals functioning properly. Whether you are feeling stressed or are under the weather, the body rapidly uses up available vitamin C.

While plants are generally a good source of vitamin C, the amount in foods of plant origin depends on the variety of the plant, the soil condition, the climate in which it grew, the length of time since it was picked, the storage conditions, and the method of preparation so your market or supermarket bought vegetables may be lower in vitamin C than you think.

Cooking foods decreases the content of vitamin C by around 60% so make sure you incorporate raw foods in your daily diet.

How can vitamin C supplements benefit my skin?

Sun Protection
Vitamin C protects your skin from sun damage, by fighting off free radicals that are developed due to excess sun exposure (as well as environmental pollution and smoking). Also, vitamin C helps reduce the effects of sunburn.

Collagen Production
Your skin needs collagen in order to produce hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline, which are both necessary for binding the molecules that create collagen.  This is the substance that gives your skin firmness and helps it to have a toned look.  Improving your collagen production from inside out helps reduce wrinkles and fight against the signs of ageing.

Wound Healing
Your body uses vitamin C to replace damaged tissue, so that it can heal wounds faster. If you find that generally your wounds heal very slowly, this can be a sign that you are deficient in vitamin C – so make sure that you increase your intake!

Preventing Skin Discolouration
By taking in more vitamin C, you help protect your DNA from all types of photochemical reactions that lead to skin discolouration – as well as skin cancer and tumours. This is because vitamin C works to inhibit the production of Pyrimidine dimers, which are what primarily causes melanoma in humans. Also, vitamin C can potentially improve the look of age spots making your skin appear smoother and younger.    

Improving Your Skin’s Texture
Collagen also makes up the structure of your blood vessels, so a greater intake of vitamin C helps you have a healthier vascular system.  This means that your blood vessels are better able to carry oxygen and nutrients deep in the skin to keep it healthy, plump and better able to retain moisture.

Read more on the anti-ageing properties of vitamin C here.

PART 2 IS COMING SOON