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The Importance Of Vitamin C

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Humans are among one of the few species that are unable to make vitamin C, making vitamin C an essential micronutrient. The location site for the absorption of vitamin C happens in the small intestine and absorbs 50 percent or less of vitamin C when the intake is one gram or more a day (Schiff 294). Taking large amounts of vitamin C can be wasteful because as the intake of vitamin C increases the amount absorbed by the small intestine decreases (Schiff 294). Good sources of vitamin C are found in plant foods. Some of these foods that contain high amounts of vitamin C include peppers, citrus fruit, papaya, broccoli, and berries.
“Vitamin C does not function as part of coenzyme as do B vitamins, but the vitamin served as a nutrient cofactor that facilitates certain chemical reactions” (Schiff 294). Vitamin C carries out a variation of important cellular functions such as donating electrons to other compounds (Schiff 294). Vitamin C takes part in reactions that form and maintains collagen, which is a fibrous protein that gives strength to connective tissue (Schiff 295). Another function vitamin C has is that it can act as an antioxidant by giving electrons to radicals (Schiff 295). Vitamin C also has a role in the immune function in the body, and it is necessary for the synthesis of bile and also certain neurotransmitters (Schiff 295). Vitamin C may be very beneficial to the body but like any other type of vitamin there can also be deficiency’s or toxicities.
If in the body

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