Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin that is needed by humans. Because this vitamin is water soluble, your body can not store Vitamin C. This means that you must get this vitamin from your diet or supplements every day. Unlike most mammals, humans can not make this vitamin in their body. In this respect we are like fruit bats, guinea pigs, and gorillas.

A lack of VitaminC can cause many medical problems, including scurvy. Some of the sailors in past centuries died of this disease, and they literally bled to death through cracks in their blood vessels because they did not have adequate collagen to repair themselves.

Free radicals are molecules that are very unstable, and they float through the human body. Free radicals are formed as a by product of normal metabolic processes, as well as outside damage like air pollution, chemical exposure, exposure to the sun, alcohol, tobacco smoke, and many other sources. Free radicals cause damage to cell DNA and cell membranes. This may result in cell changes that can result in life threatening changes later in life. Vitamin C is an antioxidant, which means that this vitamin neutralizes free radicals in your system.

Vitamin "C" plays an essential role in the making of collagen, and this is the glue that holds our bodies together. Collagen plays an important role in skin, muscle, ligaments, blood vessels, liver, tendons, cartilage, bones, and more. Collagen plays a very important part of the repair process of our body. Without Vitamin C we can not make collagen, without which our bodies can not heal. This is especially important concerning our heart and blood vessels, and having plenty of VitaminC in your diet can avert heart disease before it starts.

Vitamin C has been proven in studies to lower blood pressure. It can also help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease in combination with Vitamin E, and may greatly reduce the risks of a stroke. This magical vitamin helps to protect the immune system, as well as help in making white blood cells.

Up to two thousand mg per day of Vitamin "C" is considered safe for normal adults. The Harvard School of Medicine has found that most people do not get enough of most vitamins, and that by taking more than the recommended allowance of Vitamin C may reduce your risks for cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases.