Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid, ascorbate, or E300. Vitamin C deficiency weakens the body's defenses. However, vitamin C deficiency has other consequences, which can be more serious but can be easily avoided in healthy people. Because with a fresh and varied diet, a deficiency of this vitamin is very rare. Read more about the symptoms, causes and treatment of vitamin C deficiency.

Definition of vitamin C

Vitamin C deficiency is probably the best-known vitamin deficiency. And vitamin C is certainly one of the best-known vitamins. Very few people have ever used a vitamin C supplement for colds or to prevent infection.

Vitamin C is one of the water-soluble vitamins. In the body, it performs a whole series of very varied tasks. These include:

· The preservation and strengthening of the body's own defenses, that is, the immune system

· Structure of connective tissue and bones.

· Promote the absorption of iron and the use of folic acid, among other very important for blood formation.

· Function of hormonal metabolism.

· Protection of cells by antioxidant action (action against free radicals that damage cells).

The recommended vitamin C requirement

Vitamin C cannot be produced by the body itself. That is why it must be received with food. In healthy adult humans, the daily requirement for vitamin C is around 100 mg per day. The following daily intake is recommended:

· Babies and children up to 4 years: 20 mg.

· Children up to 7 years: 30 mg.

· Children up to 10 years: 45 mg.

· Children up to 13 years: 65 mg.

· Adolescents up to 15 years: 85 mg.

· Adolescents up to 19 years: 105 mg.

· Adults: 110 mg (men), 95 mg (women)

· Pregnant from the 4th month: 105 mg.

· During lactation: 125 mg

What are the symptoms of vitamin C deficiency?

Like most deficiency diseases or vitamin deficiencies, vitamin C deficiency is initially quite normal. Fatigue, tiredness, loss of performance, increased irritability, muscle weakness, joint pain, and body aches (especially in the calves) can be the first symptoms of vitamin C deficiency.

Lack of vitamin C most often affects smokers who live in constant stress and who do not care about a proper diet.

Serious signs appear after a few weeks of pronounced deficiency. If it remains for a long time it shows the consequences of a disease that sailors especially feared for centuries.

Scurvy - Result of Vitamin C Deficiency

Scurvy is a disease that sailors often suffered when traveling for many months, as the supply of vitamin C often could not be guaranteed for long.

The main signs of deficiency include fatigue, bleeding gums, and difficulty wound healing. The effects of vitamin C deficiency can be very serious, so it is important to provide adequate amounts of food or take supplements.

After about 4 to 8 weeks of deficiency, the typical symptoms of scurvy appear, which may be some of the following:

· Bleeding and swelling of the gums up to the loss of teeth.

· Pale gray skin.

· Increased susceptibility to infections.

· Decrease in physical efficiency.

· Wound healing disorders.

· Hemorrhages and dermatitis.

· Bone pain and bleeding

· Arthritis.

· High fever.

· Severe diarrhea

· Balance disorders such as severe dizziness.

· Heart failure.

· Depression.

Other less frequent symptoms

Especially in infants and young children, vitamin C deficiency can cause bone growth disorders. Another consequence is a slowly evolving form of anemia, Möller-Barlow disease. Colloquially, it is sometime