Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is a water-soluble vitamin known for its role in supporting a healthy immune system. Since our bodies cannot produce vitamin C, it must come from the food that we eat regularly. The most adapted animals synthesize vitamin volumes internally. Humans lack this ability and completely depend on the sources of the ascorbate in the diet or supplement to stay alive. In addition to its vital function in maintaining the collagen structure of the body, vitamin C improves numerous components of the immune system.
The importance of vitamin C
A vitamin C deficiency sparsely influences the various important aspects of immune function that include the innate system with which we are born. The Adaptive System develops from childhood to young adulthood and these cells destroy the intruders. The cells that coordinate these attacks, will add to the production of antibodies that combat well-known infections. A weakened immune system caused by low vitamin C levels can make every infection more serious. This danger is more threatening for older people, due to the phenomenon of immunosenescence (the aging of the immune system). Vitamin C deficiency can occur due to several causes. Aging prematurely can be seen as a result of low vitamin C values. Stress can also aid in reducing vitamin C values and leave affected persons prone to infections. In some remarkable human findings, low vitamin C blood levels were associated with a series of common human diseases.
Vitamin C and immunity
The aging of the immune system (immunosenescence) can make older people prone to infections and diseases that would not be a problem for younger people. Specific studies show that vitamin C may help restore an aged immune system.
Vitamin C generates advantageous effects in almost all cells of the immune system.
Natural Killer Cells (NK): These “hit men” of the immune system move to infectious and malignant targets identified by other components of the immune system as a foreigner.
Neutrophils: are the cell of the main primer system to combat bacterial infections.
Lymphocytes: are cells from the immune system that produces antibody. (Hypers of lymphocytes)
Antibodies: are non-cellular components of the immune system that identifies and destroys invasive threats and cancer cells.
Only a few people recognize how important it is to have extensive water-soluble vitamin C deliveries to your body. Without a regular intake, the levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) are rapidly decreasing and can produce hidden effects long before the important signs of scurvy appear. New studies help confirm that a vitamin C supplement can reduce the duration and severity of prevailing breathing infections, and the common cold while lessening the probability of being prone to such conditions in the first place. In view of health risks associated with adults involving pneumonia after a cold, prevention with sufficient vitamin C, is more promising. Many studies show that sufficient vitamin C improves immune function, protects against the common cold, and many other diseases related to old age. So, don’t forget to provide your body with a regular intake of Vitamin C. Afterall, prevention is always better than cure!
