Vitamin C - The Key to Great Health
Vitamin C is important to all animals, including humans, because it is vital to the production of collagen. Vitamin C is also important because it helps protect the fat-soluble vitamins A and E as well as fatty acids from oxidation. Vitamin C prevents and cures the disease scurvy, and can be beneficial in the treatment of iron deficiency anemia.
I have to confess that I knew nothing until I joined my pharmacy, about what collagen was, and why it was so important? Collagen is the most ubiquitous substance in the body because it is the most abundant of the fibers contained in connective tissue. Connective tissue gives our body form and supports our organs. Collagen is everywhere in the body, and vitamin C plays a role in the formation of collagen. So, how is vitamin C involved in collagen synthesis?
When collagen is produced, there is a complex series of events, some occurring inside of the cell, and some outside of the cell. Vitamin C acts inside the cell, where it adds hydrogen and oxygen to proline and lysine, the amino acids. This helps form a procollagen that is later modified into collagen outside the cell.
Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits such as oranges, limes, and grapefruit, and vegetables including tomatoes, green pepper, potatoes and many others. Vitamin C is easily damaged during the food preparation stage, such as during chopping, exposure to air, cooking, boiling, and being submerged in water. The amount of Vitamin C is high enough in most foods that the quantity that remains after processing is usually more than enough for a daily supply.
The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin C is 60 to 90 milligrams per day. Individuals who smoke cigarettes are encouraged to consume more mgs of vitamin C than average adults. This is due to the fact that smoking depletes vitamin C levels in the body and is a catalyst for biological processes which damage cells. Intake of antioxidants like vitamin C can prevent or counteract cell damage due to aging and exposure to antioxidants. A high dose of vitamin C at the beginning of a cold has shown only to reduce the severity of the symptoms rather curing or preventing the cold.
It is interesting to note that Vitamin C is used as an inexpensive preservative in many processed foods, making deficiencies even rarer.
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Peanut Butter: Check for Trans Fats
Many of the major brands of peanut butter contain partially hydrogenated oils, which we recommend that you avoid. Partially hydrogenated oils are solid at room temperature, so the peanut butter manufacturers use them to keep the oil from separating and to give their products a very long shelf life. They don’t have to add very much partially hydrogenated oil, but it is there - look at the list of ingredients. They try to fool you because if the amount is less than .5 grams per serving, they can say “0 grams of trans fats” or “no trans fats.” A serving of peanut butter is two tablespoons — so they can put as much as 8 grams of trans fats in a 16-ounce jar and still attach a label that says “No Trans Fats”!.
If you think it’s important to avoid trans fats, as we do, you will read the list of ingredients on every processed food you buy and put back any that include the words “partially hydrogenated” or “hydrogenated”. If you find a brand that does not contain partially hydrogenated oils, you may notice when you pick up a jar that there’s about half an inch of oil at the top. You need to stir this in before you use it.
Most supermarkets now carry at least a few brands that don’t contain partially hydrogenated oils. My current favorite is Smart Balance Omega Peanut Butter, which has the added bonus of omega-3 fatty acids, “good fats” that we all need.
I hope this means that the supermarkets are getting the message that we want choices that don’t contain partially hydrogenated oils - in peanut butter and all other foods. If you can’t find these peanut butter in your supermarket, go to the Customer Service desk and 1) ask if they carry any peanut butter without partially hydrogenated oils (they may be able to tell you where it is), and 2) if the answer is no, ask them to stock some.
Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com.
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The Undercover Vitamin
There is a secret vitamin in the neighborhood, wandering around your body under cover. This “vitamin” has just one single purpose, although some researchers believe he has ulterior motives. He goes by the inconspicuous codename of “D” - Vitamin D.
Don’t be fooled by his clever disguise. D is no vitamin. He’s a steroid hormone, slipping through your body under guise of a vitamin. And he doesn’t have dozens of functions, like vitamin C or vitamin E, just one vital mission - to mineralize your bones!
Mineralization is a key objective of every body. Imagine if we all had flabby bones. The world would look like a Salvador Dali nightmare. Vitamin D saves us from having flabby bones.
More importantly, vitamin D saves us from having brittle bones. He prevents us from rickets and osteomalacia by balancing the calcium and phosphorous in our blood. Ooh, that D is a clever one. Not only is he a master of disguises, but he is a master chemist, constantly monitoring, measuring and balancing the mix so it just right to ensure everybody has strong and healthy bones.
Word on the grapevine is that 30% to 40% of hip fractures in elderly people are the result of insufficient vitamin D. So we caught up with D, and managed to slip away with a rare interview transcript:
“D, some of your fans can’t get enough of you. What should they do?”
“Get plenty of sun. That is the key. Where the sun touches your skin, that’s where I will be.”
“But, D, what about people who can’t? What about people in the far north, or those who wear head-to-toe clothing or who are stuck indoors?”
“If you find yourself overdressed in a dungeon in Mongolia, get a good multi-vitamin supplement.”
“D, that’s a wonderful idea.”
“Or drink lots of milk, fortified with me, of course. Some breakfast cereals are fortified with me, too. I also hang out in a lot of saltwater fish, like tuna and sardines and herring and salmon. And I love to slip around in the ol’ cod liver oil.”
“So if we can’t get enough sun, milk and fish will do the trick.”
“That’s right, but be careful about milk products. Not all of them are made with fortified milk. I make no commitment to be there if they are not.”
“What about the supplements, D?”
“A good multivitamin supplement should do it for most people. Get a liquid supplement, cause those pills just don’t digest. You just end up flushing me down the toilet…ooh, I hate that feeling.”
“Yuck.”
“And you shouldn’t need a specific vitamin D supplement, because it is possible to overdose. And you wouldn’t want too much of a guy like me around.”
That was all we could slip through the lines. But I think we learned a lot about what it is like to live the life of a secret vitamin. To our hero, vitamin D, we offer our best wishes. May everybody get plenty of vitamin D to keep their bones strong and healthy for many years to come.
About The Author
David Leonhardt runs The Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store: http://www.vitamin-supplements-store.net
Learn more about vitamin D: http://www.vitamin-supplements-store.net/vitamins/vitamin-d.html
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