You must have heard about Vitamin C and it's skincare benefits. Vitamin C is popular for its ability to improve the texture of your damage skin, powerful anti-aging enhances the production of collagen to prevent the skin from sagging.
Vitamin C Facts You Need to Know
Let’s look at some interesting facts about Vitamin C.
- Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for collagen production which is vital for the growth of healthy skin, bones, and cartilages
- Works as a powerful antioxidant to prevent any kind of cellular damage in the body
- Vitamin C helps in the absorption of iron from food
- Reducing cardiovascular damage by reducing blood cholesterol levels and lowering blood pressure
- The best dietary sources of Vitamin C are red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, kiwi, oranges, lemon, broccoli, strawberries, guava, papaya, and kale
- Smoking results in higher excretion of Vitamin C from the body
- People suffering from kidney diseases should avoid Vitamin C
- Overconsumption of Vitamin C can lead to painful stomach cramps and diarrhea
- The first animals used for Vitamin C experiments were guinea pigs since they cannot produce their Vitamin C
- Vitamin C helps a great deal in making your skin firm
Health and Beauty Benefits of Vitamin C
Vitamin C is abundantly available, and there’s no reason to be deficient in it.
From a stuffy nose to a sudden bout of fever, Vitamin C products can help you get rid of various health problems.
Let’s look at some health benefits of Vitamin C.
Benefits of Vitamin C For Your Health
Improvement of Heart Health
Higher levels of plasma in Vitamin C can greatly reduce the risk of heart diseases.
Another study has also revealed that a vegetarian diet rich in Vitamin C can decrease blood cholesterol levels by 1%.
This further reduces the risk of a heart attack by 2%
Strengthening Your Immunity
Vitamin C deficiency can make you vulnerable to pathogen attacks.
Moreover, Vitamin C also fights off allergies and infections
Vitamin C to Avoid Cancer
Research shows that high Vitamin C doses can decrease the growth rate of the liver, prostate, colon, and several other types of cancer cells.
A report by Cornell University also shows that Vitamin C can reduce the growth rate of colorectal cancer.
Treatment of Osteoarthritis
Adequate doses of Vitamin C can help you maintain healthy joints and prevent inflammatory arthritis.
Research also shows that people with low Vitamin C levels in the body are three times more susceptible to arthritis.
Enhancement of Eye Health
Research shows that an optimum level of Vitamin C along with other essential nutrients can prevent age-related visual acuity loss and macular degeneration.
It also shields the lens tissue in the eyes against molecular damage caused by free radicals.
Relates of High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy (Preeclampsia)
An American study shows that Vitamin C helps in maintaining normal blood pressure during pregnancy.
Apart from the health benefits mentioned above, Vitamin C also helps in preventing scurvy, bleeding of the gums, allergies, and viral infections.
Along with providing ample health benefits, Vitamin C also comes with some incredible benefits for your skin.
It is a water-soluble vitamin that helps in keeping your skin healthy, protects your skin against free radical damage, stimulates collagen products, quickly heals wounds, and much more.
Skin Benefits of Vitamin C
Promotes Collagen Production
Vitamin C is vital to the production of hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline, two chemicals that play a significant role in the binding of molecules to produce collagen.
So, Vitamin C is important to produce collagen that keeps your skin firm, wrinkle-free, and prevents sagging.
Correction of Hyperpigmentation and Dark Spots
Depending on the daily exposure of your skin to the UV rays of the sun, your skin type, and your ethnicity, you might have more dark spots than your friends.
Though it is not something to worry about and is a normal sign of aging, Vitamin C can help a great deal in diminishing dark spots or eliminating them.
So, Vitamin C helps in reducing brown spots by tackling free radicals.
Protection Against Free Radicals
Increased exposure of the skin to harmful UV rays can damage your skin.
Even though sunscreen is good enough for protecting your skin and adding a dose of Vitamin C can add an extra protection layer.
When skin cells are attacked by the sun and oxidative stress, free radicals enter the blood vessels and skin surrounding the area.
These charged molecules damage the nearby tissues and lead to the increased breakdown of collagen.
Vitamin C cages the free radicals and halts breakdown due to oxidative stress.
Reduction of Undereye Dark Circles
Vitamin C evens the skin tone and minimizes the appearance of dark circles under the eyes.
So, if you have tired eyes, don’t try to conceal the dark circle. Instead, use Vitamin C serums to fix them.
Vitamin C Prevents Skin Discoloration
Vitamin C guards the DNA against photochemical breakdowns that can lead to skin discoloration, the formation of a tumor, and other serious skin-related problems such as skin cancer.
It also slows down the formation of pyrimidine dimers which is the leading cause of melanoma.
Vitamin C also helps in tackling age spots and skin freckles.
Vitamin C For Anti-aging
Since Ascorbic acid is easily bioavailable, it is used in skincare products and supplements.
It naturally occurs in foods such as broccoli and oranges.
Other types of Vitamin C:
- Calcium ascorbate
- Sodium ascorbate
- Ascorbic acid with bioflavonoids
- Combination Vitamin C forms
Studies have revealed that there’s a thin line of difference between the absorption rates of different types of Vitamin C.
No matter which type you choose, the absorption will be equally quick.
Since ascorbic acid is readily available and cost-effective it is widely used in skincare products and supplements.
Best Way To Incorporate Vitamin C
The best way to use Vitamin C on your skin is in the form of a serum.
Ascorbic acid-containing serums are useful for reducing excess pigmentation, protecting your skin against sun damage, eliminating dark circles, evening out your skin tone, improving your skin texture, and enhancing collagen production.
When purchasing a Vitamin C serum, look for serums that contain a combination of Vitamin C and powerful antioxidants such as Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin E, or Ferulic Acid.
Also, since Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin and oxidizes rapidly on exposure to air, make sure you store the serum in a dark place.
Vitamin C Serum
Once you’re through with the cleansing process, allow your skin to dry, and then gently apply the Vitamin C serum to your face and neck.
Once you’ve applied the serum, you can apply moisturizer to seal the serum layer.
If the purpose of using the Vitamin C serum is protection from the sun, then we recommend using the serum during the day.
However, if the purpose of using Vitamin C serum is the restoration of the skin and prevention of premature skin aging, then we recommend using the serum at night.
Also, make sure you apply the serum before applying makeup.
Avoid Vitamin C and Retinol Together
Retinol should not be used with Vitamin C.
Retinol is absorbed at a pH of 5.5 to 6, while Vitamin C is absorbed in a pH of 3.5 or below. The efficiency of both the ingredients reduces when they’re used together.