This week I'm doing a deep dive on the powerful nutrient known to support wound, skin and gut healing; hair growth; detoxification; digestion; and normalized cholesterol levels: Vitamin C.
Wound Healing and Skin
Vitamin C is a “cofactor”, aka helper nutrient, for collagen and dermal fibroblast production. Collagen, as you might know, is important for skin to maintain its elasticity, but it also gives our muscles, bones, and connective tissue support and structure. Fibroblast might be a new term to you, but these are cells that comprise and help regenerate connective tissue, like our skin as well our gut tissue, joints, and more, and fibroblast activity declines as we age.
Dysfunction with collagen production and fibroblast function can result in a number of different skin issues. One of the more common things we can see with vitamin C deficiency is keratosis pilaris, which is that rough, bumpy skin sometimes found on the arms, face, and legs. Vitamin C also supports the skin barrier, providing a more resilient barrier to external pollutants and stressors that your skin comes into contact with.
Interestingly, research suggests that fibroblast activity is promoted by modest levels of vitamin C, but might be hindered by high levels of vitamin C (particularly when used topically). (We’ll talk more about supplementation at the end!)
Gut Health
Vitamin C supports our skin health through collagen production and fibroblast activity. But what if I told you that these exact same mechanisms also had implications for our gut barrier health. The “gut barrier” is the intestinal wall, essentially the strength and integrity of the tube inside us that’s supposed to keep toxins and bacteria out of our bloodstream, and allow nutrients into the bloodstream. When the gut barrier isn’t working as it should, toxins and other inflammatory compounds can pass into the bloodstream causing immune disruption and widespread inflammation, like brain fog, rashes or acne, anxiety, joint pain, even autoimmunity. This is a concept called intestinal permeability or “leaky gut” which I talk about in more detail in this post.
Our gut tissue gets bombarded (just like our skin) every day with toxins and pollutants, and needs to be regenerated in order to maintain a healthy barrier and keep harmful and inflammatory compounds out of our bloodstream. Vitamin C is part of the repair team, by aiding in fibroblast production.
Hair Growth
We’re still talking about collagen here!
Vitamin C → Collagen, right? Right.
AND collagen is a precursor to keratin, which is the main protein in hair. Vitamin C is important for hair growth, but also hair strength. And when our hair is strong, it gets longer more easily.
Detoxification and Cholesterol
Vitamin C is an important cofactor for bile production as well. Bile is a digestive product our bodies use to (1) digest and absorb fats and fat soluble vitamins (2) maintain a balanced gut ecosystem by clearing microbial overgrowths (3) carry toxins and excess hormones out of the body (4) act as a natural laxative by stimulating the smooth muscle in the intestines (5) carry excess cholesterol out of the body. If you want to read more about bile, I already wrote this one for you.
Lack of bile can mean that we’re struggling to remove toxins from our body (pesticides, medications, fumes, mold and other toxins). We might experience diarrhea after rich, fatty meals, or maybe skew more towards constipation due to bile’s role as a digester of fats and a natural laxative.
And importantly, vitamin C stimulates the conversion of cholesterol into bile acids. When vitamin C intake is low, this can impact bile production (important for those reasons listed above!), as well as increase cholesterol levels.
Support your Vitamin C status
Best way to get vitamin C? From food!
I encourage my clients to prioritize food sources of vitamin C, rather than supplementation. Foods provide the entire “complex” of vitamin C and its bioflavonoids, which are more effective and beneficial when they’re combined.
Our bodies have evolved to use nutrients in combinations that are found in foods, so for vitamin C (like with many other nutrients), I heavily favor food-based “supplementation”. Using a food-first approach also prevents us from getting excessive amounts of vitamin C, which might have unexpected consequences like depleting other nutrients (B12), or disrupting function of some cells, like fibroblasts.
OK back to the foods.
It’s actually *not* oranges and citrus, if you can believe it. In order, from highest to not-as-high-but-still-a-lot, here are the best sources of vitamin C.
(Remember, vitamin C is denatured with heat and runs off in water when boiled. I recommend eating these foods raw, or steam/sauté when possible rather than boil.)
Best sources from the normal grocery store:
Yellow Bell Peppers (one yellow pepper has about 380% of your daily value!)
Chili peppers
Cantaloupe
Parsley
Kale - much more raw than cooked
Papaya
Kiwi
Best sources, but probably in a fancy grocery store:
Kakadu plums (one tiny plum has about 490% of your daily value 🤯)
Acerola cherries
Rose hips
Guava
Black currants
Mustard spinach/greens - typically they’re cooked, but still a good source when cooked!
If you’re inspired to add more vitamin C rich foods into your diet, pick 2-3 of these that you don’t normally get from the grocery store and try them out!
Bell pepper slices make a great snack, or try kiwis instead of bananas, or you can chop up parsley into a chimichurri and put that on EVERYTHING.
I hope you’re geeked out on vitamin C and inspired to try some new foods or prioritize some old favorites. If you need more support with your health than vitamin C can offer, let's chat and see what else might be going on. Book a complimentary call with me here.