Vitamin C. Dietary Sources, Technology, Dayly Requirements and Symptoms of Defficiency.

Vitamin C is one of the most important components to include in a regular diet, being a powerful vitamin that provides a number of very important health benefits and that can affect multiple body processes. Because vitamin C is not produced by our body, we need to ingest daily amounts of this nutrient for our body to function properly and prevent disease. Vitamin C is a cofactor in at least eight enzymatic reactions, including several collagen synthesis reactions that, when dysfunctional, cause the most severe symptoms of scurvy. Vitamin C is also known to help prevent colds and flu, but it is much more than that, it is a potent antioxidant, that fights free radicals in the body thus preventing premature aging, gives strength to bones and teeth, strengthens blood capillaries, fights infections, strengthens the immune system, it also helps reduce the level of triglycerides and bad cholesterol in the blood, and even helps in the absorption of iron, preventing anemia. Furthermore, the antioxidants in vitamin C help warding off inflammation, infections, and viruses, and, by helping to build proteins in various types of cellular constructions, vitamin C also protects against heart attacks and strokes, promoting in general a better vascular health and longevity. Studies suggest that vitamin C may even be important in preventing Alzheimer’s disease or autoimmune problems, as well as atherosclerosis. This book is aimed at gathering valuable information about this important vitamin, including sources of this nutrient with so important biological properties, the effects of processing and a number of different approaches to the roles of this powerful vitamin in the human body, as expressed by the diversity of themes addressed in the chapters included: 1. Vitamin C supplementation: favorable or noxious? 2. An overview of the analytical methods to determine ascorbic acid in foodstuffs 3. Vitamin C daily supplements and its ameliorative effects 4. Ionizing radiation effects on vitamin C 5. Vitamin C in marine and freshwater teleosts 6. Effects of ascorbic acid on immunity and low grade systemic inflammation 7. Vitamin C deficiency enhances disruption of adrenal non-enzymatic antioxidant systems in ODS rats with water-immersion restraint stress 8. Vitamin C and erythrocytes 9. Vitamin C: loss through cooking and conservation methods and symptoms of deficiency 10. Pharmacological effects of ascorbic acid 11. Contradictions and ambivalences of the vitamin C consumption on human health: a review of the literature 12. Vitamin C role in human health, disease and sport 13. Variability in the vitamin C content of baobab (Adansonia digitata l.) fruit from three African sahelian countrie