The Advantages Of Ascorbic Acid

Ascorbic acid is an essential micronutrient. Also known as vitamin C, you must get this nutrient from your diet, because your body does not produce or store ascorbic acid. The advantages of ascorbic acid include multiple live-sustaining functions that help your body resist disease and degeneration. The Office of Dietary Supplements recommends 90 and 75 mg daily of ascorbic acid for adult men and women, respectively, and an additional 35 mg for smokers.

Collagen

Your body needs ascorbic acid to produce collagen, which is a structural protein that maintains tissues throughout your body. Collagen keeps your blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and bones strong and healthy. Epithelial cells, which line the cavities and surfaces of structures in your body, produce and release procollagen. Without ascorbic acid, procollagen cells are degraded, and your blood vessels, tendons and skin become fragile. Scurvy is a condition that develops when your body does not have enough ascorbic acid. Bleeding, bruising easily, hair and tooth loss, joint pain and swelling are symptoms of scurvy that may result from diminished collagen production.

Norepinephrine

Ascorbic acid helps stabilize your mood and helps you respond to stress appropriately. Ascorbic acid supplies an electron that is required at the final stage of norepinephrine production. Norepinephrine is a hormone and a neurotransmitter released by the adrenal glands. Norepinephrine affects parts of your brain that control your attention and response time. For example, your heart rate and energy supply increase when you experience stress, because norepinephrine helps trigger a fight-or-flight response. Mood disorders, such as depression, are often linked to insufficient norepinephrine levels in the brain.

Carnitine

Ascorbic acid helps control your weight and the amount of fat stored in your body. Cells in your liver, brain, and kidneys need ascorbic acid to produce carnitine. Carnitine is responsible for transporting fat to mitochondria, which are the energy-producing centers in all of your body's cells. Your body cannot burn fat for energy without ascorbic acid, because carnitine production depends on ascorbic acid. Carnitine also helps remove cellular waste, which accumulates inside cells and inhibits energy production.

Antioxidant

Antioxidants help protect your cells against the effects of free radicals, which damage cells and may contribute to heart disease, cancer and other health problems. Your body's normal metabolic processes, such as producing energy with oxygen, generate free radicals. Environmental pollutants and toxins, including tobacco smoke and ultraviolet radiation from the sun, also generate free radicals. Ascorbic acid has potent antioxidant advantages that protect essential nutritional and genetic molecules. Ascorbic acid can even regenerate other antioxidant substances, such as vitamin E, which stops free radical formation when your body burns fat for energy.