Welcome to our new weekly recap of all the recent vitamin C news you may have missed. This week we have news on how vitamin C may reduce blood presssure (a new study) and an update on vitamin C and skin care.
Short-term use of Vitamin C supplementation lowers blood pressure.
A recent study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine shows that taking vitamin C supplements for a short period of time can reduce both types of blood pressure – systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number) by 3.84 mm Hg and 1.67 mm Hg, respectively.
The trial participants were given a dosage of about 500 milligrams per day. The researchers concluded that the increased “vitamin C intake, vitamin C supplementation and higher serum vitamin C are all associated with lower blood pressure.” Additionally, the researchers concluded that longer-term studies are needed. Fans of Dr. Linus Pauling believe this research already exists. He recommends that people in their 50s take up to 5,000 mg per day for health benefits that include promoting wound healing, protecting against cancer and aiding in the health of diabetes and heart patients, reports FoodConsumer.org.
For more information on Dr. Pauling’s research, we recommend Dr. Thomas Levy’s book Curing the Incurable: Vitamin C, Infections and Toxins.
Vitamin C can reduce your wrinkles.
Touted as the skincare industry’s newest miracle, vitamin C has long been known to be great for your skin. In fact, it’s required. Your body needs vitamin C to form collagen and elastin (the two requirements for younger-looking skin).
In addition to helping you build new collagen and elastin, vitamin C is considered one of the most powerful antioxidants. It helps protect and reverse the damage of everyday life including sun exposure, pollution and poor nutrition, reports the Daily Mail.
If you watch the newer skin care commercials, you’ll notice marketing language around vitamin C as a “spot remover.” Ascorbic acid (vitamin C’s technical name) blocks the enzyme (tyrosinase), which causes the dark spots, according to this article. So, can our skin benefit from the popular liposomal vitamin C (vitamin C encapsulated in a lipid casing that bypasses the gastric barrier to get into the bloodstream faster and without the side effects)?
The Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University has this to say on this topic:
“Vitamin C in the skin is normally transported from the bloodstream…Oral supplementation with vitamin C effectively increases vitamin C levels in the skin. However, when plasma vitamin C levels are saturated, skin vitamin C concentrations no longer increase. Optimum skin concentrations of the vitamin are not yet known.”
That analysis points to why there may be a drive to use a topical instance of vitamin C on the skin or to use a skin care product that includes this powerful antioxidant.
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