The Benefits of Vitamin C and Vitamin C Sources

Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, is a water soluble vitamin that is essential to several important body functions.

What is vitamin C?

Because of its widespread use as a dietary supplement, vitamin C may be more familiar to the general public than any other nutrient. Studies indicate that more than 40% of older individuals in the U.S. take vitamin C supplements; and in some regions of the country, almost 25% of all adults, regardless of age, take vitamin C. Outside of a multivitamin, vitamin C is also the most popular supplement among some groups of registered dietitians, and 80% of the dietitians who take vitamin C take more than 250 milligrams. Why is this nutrient so popular?

Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble nutrient that is easily excreted from the body when not needed. It's so critical to living creatures that almost all mammals can use their own cells to make it. Humans, gorillas, chimps, bats, guinea pigs and birds are some of the few animals that cannot make vitamin C inside of their own bodies.

Humans vary greatly in their vitamin C requirement. It's natural for one person to need 10 times as much vitamin C as another person; and a person's age and health status can dramatically change his or her need for vitamin C. The amount of vitamin C found in food varies as dramatically as our human requirement. In general, an unripe food is much lower in vitamin C than a ripe one, but provided that the food is ripe, the vitamin C content is higher when the food is younger at the time of harvest.

As an antioxidant, Vitamin C is important because it protects our tissues from harmful toxins, pollutants and even our bodies own free radicals which are by-products of normal metabolism. As such it is believed by the scientific community that people with diets high in Vitamin C will be less susceptible to many kinds of cancer.

There have been many scientific studies with Vitamin C and its effects on the common cold. Most have found Vitamin C supplementation to improve the prevention of colds but not necessarily reduce the duration of a cold. Therefore, it’s important to always be aware of your Vitamin C intake.

HOW TO PREPARE FOODS TO RETAIN VITAMIN C.

Vitamin C can be readily lost from foods during preparation, cooking, or storage. To retain vitamin C:

• Serve fruits and vegetables raw whenever possible.
• Steam, boil, or simmer foods in a minimal amount of water, or microwave them for the shortest time possible.
• Cook potatoes in their skins.
• Refrigerate prepared juices, and store them for no more than 2 to 3 days.
• Store cut raw fruits and vegetables in an airtight container and refrigerate - do not soak or store in water. Vitamin C will be dissolved in the water.

How to Remove Toxins from Your Body Naturally

Feeling sluggish or out of sync? Having skin problems, aches and pains, or digestive problems? Straying from your healthier habits lately? It might be time for a detox.

Detoxification refers to the body's natural and constant process of eliminating poisons or toxins through the liver, kidneys, colon, lymph and skin. Although our bodies do it naturally every day, we do sometimes need an extra step to flush our systems. Through detoxification, we can successfully assist the body to eliminate dangerous toxins, chemicals, metals, parasites and other unwanted substances.

• Avoid alcohol, smoking and caffeinated beverages as they are loaded with harmful chemical substances that may damage internal organs in the long process. Alcohol and smoking irritate nerve functions and disturb mental focus. Alcohol affects the liver badly. Especially if you made alcohol drinking as part of your everyday living. When it goes to the system, it will take the liver about 24-48 hours to excrete every single alcohol inside the body. When the liver can no longer clean the alcohol, it stays on the liver, thus diseases like liver cirrhosis are produced. Smoking introduces nicotine and other compounds into your body. They result in a high toxin level in your body. Over a period in time and with increased frequency, the toxins accumulate in your body, posing tremendous danger to its vital organs and the functioning of your lungs, in particular. Smoking also clogs bronchial tubes preventing natural air passage to the lungs. Caffeinated beverages are nothing but calories and sugar and can shoot up excessive weight gains.
• Drink plenty of water because the kidneys cannot perform adequately without sufficient water intake. Our kidneys remove wastes like uric acid, urea, and lactic acid to name a few. All of which are dissolved in water. When there aren't adequate amounts of water, these wastes aren't removed effectively and kidney damage may result. The suggested amount is around 33 ml of water for every kg of body weight i.e. 2.3 liters for a 70 kg person (around 1/2 ounce for every pound i.e. 60 oz for a 120 lb person). But water alone is not an ideal tool for detoxification because it lacks balanced nutrition to supply the body with enough vitamins and minerals. Fruit juices are strongly recommended by some health professionals so as not to deprive the body from important nutrients. Fruits are good sources of natural blood sugar that help sustain brain's normal function.
• The next step is to minimize high caloric and processed food intakes. High caloric and processed foods are mostly hard to digest and lacks good amount of soluble and insoluble fibers to cleanse the digestive tract and intestinal wall. They often make the body prone to bloating and constipation. They also include toxins that are unhealthy for you. So, to detoxify your body, just keep those processed foods off your menu list.
• Lay off of any animal based foods, i.e. meat, poultry, fish, pork, game, eggs, dairy, etc. Sure these foods can taste great, but they also contribute to poor digestion, a sluggish colon, high blood pressure, kidney stones, and gall stones to name but a few of the associated downsides. In addition to that, meat contains difficult to digest enzymes that means it can hang around in our systems for longer than is desirable, causing our digestion to become blocked by mucus. Some studies even claim that eating red meat can contribute to colon and prostate cancer.
• Eat lots of fruits, whole grain, vegetables and foods high in fibers as it is excellent for flushing toxic residues out of the body. If you try this approach, you will see an improvement in your overall health, with many minor niggling symptoms disappearing altogether.
• Increase the intake of foods like beetroot (chukandar), berries, broccoli (hari phoolgobhi), red grapes, spinach (palak) and carrot (gazar). These foods contained antioxidants that fight free-radical attacks and inflammation protecting the immune system and body cells. These help the skin texture radiant and glowing. They also contain important antioxidants called flavonoids and polyphenols to fight cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
• Increase the intake of spices. Spices are excellent for the purposes of drawing toxins out of your body and leaving you feeling more energetic and healthier in general. Eat plenty of raw garlic (lehsun) either whole, chopped up or in juices. Garlic is a premiere infection and disease fighter, which unlike antibiotics does not harm our body's beneficial intestinal flora. Garlic increases phagocytosis; the ability of white blood cells to fight off bacterial infection (toxins). Eat fresh ginger to aid digestion, and to stimulate blood circulation and lymphatic flow. Ginger (adrak) also helps to open the pores and eliminate toxins. Consume some hot chili peppers in your meals; start with mild chilies if you are sensitive. Eating chili peppers will increase circulation throughout your body, which means more nutrition reaching your cells and wastes leaving efficiently.
• Take enough rest, exercise and sleep well. Sedentary lifestyle and worn out body cells make the immune system prone to illnesses. Exercise like walking and jogging are best recommended to keep the body maintains strong stamina and boost energy levels.

The Benefits of Green Tea for your Health

More than 500 studies have been conducted in recent years to determine the potential health benefits of green tea.In Asia, this smooth, delicate brew has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Scientific findings have linked green tea consumption to the slowing or prevention of conditions including heart disease rheumatoid arthritis, impaired immune disease, and liver disease.

Green Tea - An ancient remedy yields a new medicine. Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institutew of Technology are discovering that the chemicals in green tea help rid the brain of iron deposits, which have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons's and Alzheimer's. these findings have led to several new drugs based on mopping up iron with green tea extracts. Another drug developed at Technion, now in the approval process, may actually halt the death of brain cells. 

Here are highlights of some recent studies that point to the health benefits of green tea.

Heart Disease

• A 25-year study of people drinking more than 8.5 ounces of tea daily revealed a lower risk of coronary heart disease than those whose green tea consumption was less.
  Also, the study found that the rate of first heart attacks and potential risk of dying from cholesterol-related heart disease issues was notably reduced.
• A Japanese study found an meaningful decrease in cholesterol levels among men who had a high intake of green tea. Other animal studies have confirmed these findings and revealed that green tea contributes to lower serum cholesterol levels.

Arthritis

• Scientists at Case Western University found that green tea antioxidants postpone the beginning of and decrease in the severity of one type of arthritis in mice.
• A test tube study in Europe revealed decreased movement of blood cells that cause inflammation when exposed to green tea antioxidates

Liver Disease

• Research has showed that green tea protects liver cells by triggering the immune system to ward off the effects of alcohol and chemicals in cigarette smoke.

Weight Management

• Researchers at the University of Geneva in Switzerland found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo, suggesting the brew's positive contribution to weight loss.

Tooth Decay

• Information from human and animal studies demonstrate that green tea inhibits bacteria that causes cavities in teeth. Also, there is fluoride present in tea, which helps protect against cavities.

Cancer

• The Journal of the National Cancer Institute published results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent.
• A Japanese study among women who drank a form of powdered green tea revealed that their risk of getting bladder cancer was cut by 50%.
• University of Purdue research studies confirmed that green tea compounds inhibit the growth of specified cancer cells.
• A 1990 study revealed that people who drank green tea lowered their rate of colon and rectal gland cancers. Other related studies have confirmed that tea drinkers were less likely to develop colorectal cancers than non drinkers.
• Indiana University School of Medicine researchers found that mice who were exposed to a liver carcinogen developed fewer tumors when they were given green tea compounds, suggesting that green tea helps prevent liver tumors.
• Mayo Clinic scientists found that the active green tea component, epigallocatechin gallate, was effective at killing prostate cancer cells.
• A report in Fundamental & Applied Toxicology revealed that mice who had green tea added to their diets developed fewer or no lung cancer tumors compared to the mice who did not have green tea added to their diet.
• The International Journal of Cancer reported a study among humans that concluded that the more green tea consumed, the less likely one is to develop pancreatic cancer.
• A report in Cancer magazine reported drinking green tea reduced the risk of developing stomach cancer in humans.

To garner the greatest health benefits of green tea, brew the leaves in their natural, original form – rather than use tea bags.

Studies suggest that some commercial tea bags contain less then 10% of tea’s original antioxidant properties.

Fruits and Vegetables to lower Blood Pressure

In case you still have doubts about eating fruits and vegetables to keep blood pressure under control, here.s more evidence that it works. Researchers at the University of Minnesota followed 4,304 men and women between the ages of 18 and 30 for 15 years to assess the impact of their diets on their blood pressure. They found that the more plant foods (fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes) and the less red meat participants consumed, the less likely they were to develop high blood pressure. These findings, published in the December 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, mirrored results from earlier studies showing that diets rich in fruits and vegetables, low in total fats, and containing low-fat dairy foods can reduce blood pressure, especially among patients with hypertension. In the new study, the impact of dairy food consumption on the risk of high blood pressure was inconclusive. Other studies have also shown the benefit of combining regular exercise with a dietary strategy to control blood pressure.

Tips to Lower High Blood Pressure

• Alcohol Intake – reduce consuming alcoholic drinks; if possible quit drinking alcoholic drinks.
• Body Weight – maintain an optimal body weight (as per body mass index).
• Caffeine Intake – reduce consuming the caffeine-rich drinks such as coffee tea and sodas.
• Physical Exercises – do some moderate physical exercises such as walking at least for about 30 minutes a day.
• Processed Foods – avoid consuming processed foods as they contain large quantities of sodium.
• Relaxation – do some relaxing practices such as biofeedback breathing exercises meditation and/or yoga. There practices will definitely help you lower high blood pressure.
• Smoking – smoking is one of the important hypertension-causing factors. Quit smoking tobacco.
• Calcium and Magnesium – do not consume calcium and magnesium inadequately as it results in hypertension.
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  Medical Center New York New York New York. The abstract specifically linked to the Lyme disease as well. These will help keep their system running. Its like safety production.
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  Therefore consume adequate quantity of calcium and magnesium (for women 0.035 to 0.042 oz a day and for men 0.018 to 0.021 a day).
• Controlled and Balanced Foods – eat only controlled and balanced foods such as low-fat foods non-fat dairy nutrients and less oily foods.
• Fish – eat at least 3-4 servings of fish every week. Cold-water fish such as sardines and wild Alaskan salmon are rich in fatty acids called “omega-3 fatty acids” which help you control hypertension.
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• Fish-Liver Oil – consuming fish-liver oil every day will help you lower high blood pressure as it contains DHA (docohexaenoic acid).
• Fruits and Vegetables – eat large quantities of vegetables and at least 8-10 servings of fresh fruit a day.
• Garlic – garlic has great power of controlling high blood pressure. Chew and swallow at least one clove of garlic in the morning.
• Nuts and Seeds – consume at least 4-5 servings of cooked dry beans (half cup) nuts (2 teaspoon) and seeds (2 teaspoon) a week.
• Lower Meat Consumption – do not consume more than 6 oz of animal protein a day.
• Lower Salt Intake – salt is another important hypertension-inducing factor. Therefore reduce consumption of salt; do not exceed 0.08 oz a day.
• Vitamin C – consume the supplements that have vitamin C as vitamin C will lower blood pressure in the individuals with mild to moderate hypertension.

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