This is the time of the year when the common cold and cough starts to make its round. Many people turn to Vitamin C to help fight off sickness or to keep from getting sick in the first place.

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that plays a vital role in maintaining the health of our body’s connective tissue. It also acts as an antioxidant. Our body is not capable of producing it on its own, and unfortunately, it can’t store it on its own either so it is important to eat a healthy diet with plenty of vegetables and fruits.

What Vitamin C can do For Your Health?
Some of the first discoveries of just how important Vitamin C is to our health would be around the time of the scurvy epidemic. This deadly disease would kill thousands of sailors in the Royal Navy.

A Scottish surgeon in the Royal Navy, James Lind, discovered a simple antidote. He would give the soldiers a daily dose of lemon juice, which helped cure and prevents this avoidable disease. This ritual was so effective that it later became a routine practice in the British Navy.

While history has proven the positive cure of scurvy through the use of this potent nutrient, today, Vitamin C remains necessary for a number of other important health benefits.

Some of these benefits include protection of immune system deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, and to prevent the early signs of aging on the skin. It’s also been known to prevent bruising, swollen gums, dry and splitting hair, nosebleeds, gingivitis, swollen joints, and possible weight gain.

Vitamin C and Respiratory Health
Italy is one of the largest producers of Kiwi fruit worldwide. A study was done in Northern Italy between children that were 6-7 years old. They wanted to see how effective Kiwi fruit was for respiratory health and how it offered protection to the lungs through its antioxidant properties.

Their study showed that children who consumed more kiwi fruit on a daily basis were less likely to experience respiratory problems such as wheezing, night coughing, and sneezing.

Best Sources of Natural Vitamin C
Without a doubt, the best source of Vitamin C would be naturally sourced from fruits and vegetables. Sadly, most people don’t consume their required servings of fruits and vegetables on a consistent basis, which is why taking a supplement, is safe and effective.

The foods richest in Vitamin C are mainly citrus fruits, kiwis, tomatoes, red peppers, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, pomegranate, raspberries, pineapples, dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts.