21 Foods High in Vitamin C

Vitamin C is one of the best known nutrients and certainly one of the best-known vitamins. This is the reason that so many of us eat oranges and apples whenever we’re feeling unwell and it’s undoubtedly one of the most popular food supplements as well – nearly every multivitamin boasts about the vitamin C content it can offer!

This isn’t all just empty hype though either. Vitamin C really does live up to its good name and can offer us a host of different benefits. For starters, vitamin C, which is also known as ascorbic acid, is well known to help strengthen the immune system. Through this method, it is then able to reduce our likelihood of contracting colds and flus and it can even help with the healing of wounds, reduce the symptoms of asthma and combat lead toxicity, cataracts and hyper tension!

On top of all that, vitamin C can increase our mood by helping us to produce more serotonin – the body’s natural ‘antidepressant’. It is also effective at reducing stress, seeing as an increase in serotonin always corresponds with a decrease in cortisol. It increases testosterone levels as well, helps us to recover from athletic training and generally does a whole world of good in a vast number of ways.

As if that wasn’t all enough to convince you that you should have more vitamin C in your diet, you should also consider that vitamin C is one of the safest nutrients as well. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, which means it doesn’t hang around in the body, doesn’t build up and can’t become toxic. Consume too much vitamin C and all that will happen is that it will come out in your urine!

So with all that said, how do you go about getting more vitamin C in your diet? The good news is that it is practically everywhere. Here though, we’ll look at some of the best options for boosting your levels.

1.  Apples

The old saying goes that an apple a day can keep the doctor away. Thanks to vitamin C, that is probably true! Apples are fantastic for strengthening the immune system with their vitamin C content and they are also very effective health boosters in a number of other ways. Apples are great sources of fiber if you consume them with the skin on particularly and they are also a source of epicatechin. This substance has been shown to boost muscle mass and to help encourage more blood flow to the brain.