In the last few years, there has been a lot of awareness about the importance of health. As such, many people have actively taken up to exercising and eating a healthy and balanced diet to maintain physical as well as mental wellness.
The healthy and balanced diets that are the talk of the town these days, ensure that the food to be eaten has an appropriate amounts of minerals, vitamins, and nutrients. Special focus is given on the vitamins, since they are the most important in helping your body to develop and grow, while also helping in improving metabolism, immunity as well as digestion, amongst other things.
But there are two vitamins, whose presence in the body is of great value. These are Vitamin C and D. They both have a role to play in multiple functions of the body and any deficiency of these can result in various kinds of disorders and diseases. So let’s take a deeper look at what functions both these vitamins have in the body, and how you can ensure to have enough in your body, to improve and then maintain your overall health.
Vitamin C and its Importance for our Body
Vitamin C is one of the most essential vitamins for the body, which it cannot produce by itself. It has many different roles and functions and can help to keep the body healthy. It is found in various sources of food, and can also be consumed through supplements. Let us take a look at its functions in the body, its benefits for overall health, and which food items are a great source of it.
What are the various Functions of Vitamin C?
Vitamin C has multiple roles and functions in the human body, some of these include:
- Helps in the growth of skin, repair of tissues, and development of tendons, ligaments as well as blood vessels.
- Reduces the risk of chronic diseases such as heart diseases, since it has antioxidants that protect the cells from free radicals.
- Vitamin C has an antihistamine effect, which helps in reducing the duration of the common cold in the human body.
- It is a friend of the human Immune System. It is one of the best sources for boosting the immune system. It helps in its growth and makes it stronger, thereby protecting the body from various outside attacks.
What are the Different Benefits of Vitamin C?
Vitamin C is highly beneficial for the body. Some of the benefits of Vitamin C include:
Helps in Fighting High Blood Pressure
Various reports have suggested that taking adequate dosage of Vitamin C regularly helps people suffering with high blood pressure. Vitamin C works by relaxing the blood vessels which carry blood from the heart. As these vessels are relaxed, the blood flow is normalized. The pressure is reduced eventually, and the person feels much healthier. People consistently having high blood pressure issues should intake adequate levels of Vitamin C daily, and never allow it to be deficient.
Helps in preventing the deficiency of Iron in the Body
Iron is one of the most important nutrients for the human body. It helps in carrying oxygen through the body in blood. Besides, it is also one of the main sources for the production of red blood cells. Without iron, the body will struggle to perform these critical body functions Vitamin C ensures that iron gets perfectly absorbed in the body. It has been estimated that an intake of 100 mg of Vitamin C leads to an improvement in Iron absorption by a whopping 67%.
Helps in Improving Memory
Poor thinking, inability to retain things and losing memory are common problems, which tend to increase with age. Over 35 million people worldwide are affected by this problem. However, studies have found that having an adequate quantity of Vitamin C in your blood goes a long way in improving your memory. Oxidative stress along with brain, spine or nerve inflammation are some of the main reasons for memory loss. However, being a rich antioxidant itself, Vitamin C reduces the inflammation and helps improve your memory.
Assists in Losing Body Weight
Losing weight is a difficult process. From regular exercise to taking in a limited amount of calories through a balanced diet, it can start to take a toll sometimes. However, it has been discovered in recent research that Vitamin C is inversely related to the mass of the body. As such, individuals who intake an adequate amount of Vitamin C regularly, tend to oxidize 30% more fat during exercise. Hence, they get the additional push, which assists them a lot in losing weight, and makes the process a bit easier.
Promotes Mental Health
Mental Health is deemed to have a much more important role than physical health. Although people ignore mental health issues, awareness regarding this is increasing every day. A sound and relaxed mind help an individual to live a quality life. It has been recently found that people who have a high amount of Vitamin C in their bodies are the least likely to go through depression and fatigue. So, it can be concluded that Vitamin C helps keep your mind healthy, and thereby promotes mental health and leads you towards living a quality life.
What are Some Sources of Vitamin C?
Although it is one of the most important nutrients for the body, our bodies cannot produce Vitamin C on its own. Since it is important to intake at least 90mg of Vitamin C every day for men and 75 mg for women, to ensure sufficient value, let’s take a look at some of the major sources of Vitamin C.
Variety of Foods
Some of the most common food items which have a rich amount of Vitamin C in them include Sweet Potatoes, Citrus Fruits such as lemon and oranges, etc., broccoli, kiwi, red and green peppers, tomato, spinach, plums, cherries, strawberries, asparagus and cabbage amongst others.
Other Sources
Besides food, the only other way to get enough Vitamin C for your body is through supplements. Although your food items have enough quantity of Vitamin C and should be the preferred options. But in a rare case, you get deficient in Vitamin C levels, then you can intake supplementary vitamin pills to get back to normal levels.
Vitamin D and its Importance for the Human Body
Vitamin D is another essential nutrient for the human body, it plays a crucial role in various bodily functions. It helps and assists the body in multiple ways. We will now take a closer look and find out the functions it performs and the role it plays, its importance for our health and how we can ensure sufficient levels of Vitamin D are maintained in our bodies.
What are the Different Functions of Vitamin D?
Some of the critical functions performed by Vitamin D in our bodies include:
- It is one of the most vital vitamins for bones. It helps in absorbing calcium, which in turn helps in forming stronger bones, and reduces the risk of fractures.
- Plays a crucial role in strengthening muscles. Its byproduct (OH2)D enters the muscles and targets its nucleus. As such, muscle contraction and relaxation are eased, and with that it gains strength.
- Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. Due to this characteristic, it helps in regulating the function of the kidneys and can go a long way in helping to treat chronic kidney diseases.
- Vitamin D is important for keeping the lungs healthy and ensuring their proper functioning. Its anti-inflammatory properties assist the lungs.
What are the Benefits of Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is essential to the body because of the various benefits it provides to us. Some of these benefits include:
Fights Diabetes
Vitamin D, as per various observational studies, helps in increasing the sensitivity of insulin. Besides this, it also boosts the beta-cell function and reduces the inflammation. These all combine in keeping diabetes, especially Type-2 in check. Taking in an adequate amount of Vitamin D thus ensures easy insulin management for diabetes patients.
Enhances Mood and benefits for the Nervous System
Observations have shown that Vitamin D has a substantial effect on both the brain as well as the nervous system. Not only does it enhance mood, but it can also increase as well as improve the quality of sleep of an individual.
Manages Blood Pressure
Research conducted recently has yielded results that individuals suffering from high blood pressure issues observed significant improvement when Vitamin D levels were increased in their bodies. This was breakthrough research, as it confirms how Vitamin D helps in reducing renin concentration. Renin is an enzyme that is produced as a byproduct of kidney functions. It has a direct effect on blood vessels. When its concentration gets reduced by Vitamin D, the blood vessels relax, bringing the blood pressure down.
Regulates Calcium and Phosphate Levels in the Body
Besides helping in the absorption of calcium, Vitamin D also keeps a check and regulates the quantity of both calcium as well as phosphate. This allows your bones, teeth, and even muscles to stay strong and healthy, improving your overall health. If Vitamin D is deficient in the body, then it can lead to deformities of the bone, which is known as rickets in children. In adults, it can cause serious bone and teeth pain. The bone pain is termed as osteomalacia, which can be very hurtful.
May Help in Treating Cancer
It has been determined in various studies and researches that individuals who have high levels of Vitamin D in their bodies have less chance of developing cancerous tumors. Concrete proofs have been found in reducing the risk of bladder cancer and colorectal cancer by maintaining an adequate quantity of Vitamin D in the body. Though more research is needed on this topic, and multiple types of cancers. But the early signs are good and underline the importance of Vitamin D.
What are Some Sources of Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is referred to as Sunlight Vitamin. The human body needs a minimum of 600 IU of Vitamin D per day. The body itself cannot produce Vitamin D, and it is available in only a limited source of food. Let us discuss these sources, and find out how you can maintain adequate levels of vitamin D in your body.
Direct Sunlight
Sunlight has an adequate amount of Vitamin D for us. By getting under the sun, especially in the early morning, you can derive a good quantity of Vitamin D. The March to September sunlight is ideal, but this source becomes less ideal as sunlight reduces from October to February.
Variety of Foods
Vitamin D is found only in a handful of foods. These include oily fish such as sardines, herring, salmon or mackerel, red meat, egg yolks, and some dietary supplements such as fortified milk.
Supplements
Due to the less amount of sources for getting adequate quantities of Vitamin D, it is recommended that supplements are taken to avoid being deficient. Women and children might require supplements more. During autumn and winter, it becomes even more necessary to take Vitamin D supplements due to the lack of sunlight.
Conclusion
As we have seen above, both Vitamin C and Vitamin D have great importance in the human body. Not only do they protect us from various kinds of diseases and disorders but it also plays a crucial role in the core functioning of various organs and body parts.
Taking these vitamins in an adequate quantity ensures overall good health, both physical as well as mental. You should take the necessary amounts of these vitamins through the sources discussed, and thereby keep yourself healthy. Besides this, you should also drink plenty of water if you want to maintain your health. You can try alkaline water since it gets absorbed easily. The best way to keep water alkalized for easier absorption is by storing it in a DYLN Water Bottle.
