Vitamin C Essential for Healthy Skin and Collagen Production

Most people associate Vitamin C with fighting off cold and flu viruses, but one of its main functions is in skin health and the production of collagen. Collagen is responsible for wound healing, a healthy appearance, helps prevent wrinkles and aging of the skin, it's also the glue that holds cells together so it's extremely important for cell structure. It's the main protein structure in connective tissue. Collagen makes up about 30% of the body's protein content.

We know that many women have collagen injections to help saggy under eye skin and to plump lips. It could be if those people added extra Vitamin C to their daily nutrient intake, they could avoid some of those costly injections. Collagen is also used to help reduce the appearance of scars and wrinkles.

Many bed-ridden patients suffer from bed sores and abscesses. A study at the Human Tissue Reconstruction Institute in Chicago conducted a test many years ago and concluded that Vitamin C is highly effective in treating these maladies when other conventional treatments didn't work. Doctor's prepared of poultice of simple and complex sugars along with Vitamin C and amino acids to treat the wounds once a day. These sores had shown no signs of improving by other methods but after these solutions were applied, patients showed almost immediate improvements. Complete healing still took time, but the wounds stayed cleaner and lost their foul smell within a few days. The patients who received this treatment also had less signs of scarring.

Another study conducted at the University of Genoa in Italy had patients who suffered from boils and abscesses that wouldn't heal. After taking high doses of Vitamin C the patients recovered and many had no signs of skin ailments after a year.

A Canadian study took patients who suffered with Rheumatoid arthritis to see if treatment with Vitamin C could help their condition. They used arthritic cells and normal cells, taken from the joints of these patients and tested them with different solutions in culture trays. The results showed that aspirin had some positive effects on the arthritic cells but Vitamin C, in high doses, actually eradicated the arthritic cells. There was no effect on the normal cells, indicating that Vitamin C seeks out damaged cells to repair them. Taking a daily dose of aspirin and Vitamin C may help arthritis sufferers more than they might think. It can't hurt to ask your doctor about this treatment if you suffer from Rheumatoid arthritis.

The many benefits of Vitamin C are still being researched and discovered, but there is enough evidence to prove that this nutrient is vitally important to health, well-being and for the aid of healthy skin.