An A for Vitamin C

Vitamin C doesn't just fight colds -- it can lower stress too!

By Hara Estroff Marano, published on October 1, 2002 - last reviewed on April 25, 2005

It's already everybody's favorite nutritional supplement, linked,
however controversially, to preventing the common cold and fighting
helps reduce both the physical and psychological effects of stress on

mental and physical signs of stress when subjected to acute psychological
challenges. What's more, they bounce back from stressful situations

stressor -- a public speaking task combined with mental math problems. Half
of those studied were given 1,000 mg of vitamin C.

Such signs of stress as elevated levels of the stress hormone
cortisol and high blood pressure were significantly greater in those who
they felt less stressed when they got the vitamin.

The researchers believe that vitamin C should be considered an
essential part of stress management.

Earlier studies showed that vitamin C abolished secretion of
cortisol in animals that had been subjected to repeated stress. Cortisol
stress to all parts of the body and mind.

Cortisol is the hormone, for example, that triggers the fight or
flight response to stress that allows us to spring into action when we
comes at a considerable cost.

Among other effects, frequent exposure to high levels of stress
hormones exhausts the body's physical resources, impairs learning and
memory, and makes people susceptible to depression.

In the animal studies, vitamin C fed to rats undergoing stress
prevented the expected increase in cortisol levels. In addition, it
prevented the animals from exhibiting the known signs of physical and
emotional stress, including loss of body weight.

Among animals that did not receive vitamin C, the level of stress
hormones in the blood was three times greater.

The present recommended daily allowannce (RDA) for vitamin C for
adults is 60 milligrams -- a far cry from the 1,000 mg found helpful in the
vastly outdated.

The current RDA for vitamin C was set decades ago. It is based on
the amount of the vitamin needed to ward off scurvy.

Current thinking looks at vitamin C from the opposite direction:
The amount needed to promote health under varying environmental
prevent deficiencies.

There's also evidence suggesting that prehistoric humans consumed
so, the physiological constitution we have inherited may require far
1,000 mg.

Vitamin C is abundant in fresh, uncooked fruits and vegetables,
most notably in citrus fruits and both red and green peppers. One
eight-ounce glass of fresh orange juice provides 97 mg of the

It's also found in papayas, cantaloupes, strawberries, broccoli,
Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, asparagus and parsley. You will not find
vitamin C in animal food, and only a small amount in raw fish.

An unstable substance, vitamin C is destroyed by cooking and
exposure of food to light.

As the most commonly consumed nutrient supplement, vitamin C comes
in many formulations. But the best may be a time-released preparation
short-acting. Alternatively, smaller-dose vitamin C supplements can be
taken at intervals throughout the day.