Best Vitamin C Deficiency Is Called

The main function of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is to make collagen; it’s what the body uses to make connective tissue for the skin, ligaments and bones.

Vitamin C plays a role in healing wounds and burns, forming red blood cells and preventing hemorrhaging. Vitamin C also helps defend the body against infection. And as a powerful antioxidant, vitamin C helps reduce the free-radical damage that causes premature aging.

The importance of vitamin C to the immune system cannot be over-emphasized. First, it stimulates production of a compound called interferon. Interferon helps the immune system do its job better and reduce the spread of infection. Secondly, vitamin C itself has strong effects against viral cells.

Signs of vitamin C deficiency include shortness of breath, impaired digestion, poor lactation for nursing mothers, bleeding gums, weakened tooth enamel, a tendency to bruise easily, swollen or painful joints, nosebleeds, anemia, slow healing, and a weakened immune system.

As you may know, scurvy is the result of a severe deficiency. This is when the skin, connective tissue and blood vessels lose their integrity. Scurvy starts with fatigue and then leads to hemorrhaging, bleeding, and can be fatal.*