What Are The Functions of Vitamin C ?

Goat’s milk naturally contains loads of vitamins and minerals that could prove beneficial for everyone. Compared to cow’s milk, goat’s milk naturally contains higher levels of vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A, magnesium and calcium. So, let us take a closer look at each of the main goat vitamins and determine their role inside of goat’s milk formula.

The Functions of vitamin C?

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin important for collagen formation, a protein that is needed to give structure to bones, cartilage, muscle and blood vessels. It also helps maintain capillaries, bones, and teeth and aids in the absorption of the mineral iron.

Humans are unable to synthesize vitamin C on their own and therefore, it must be solely obtained from their diet to maintain a normal metabolic function of the body. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of vitamin C. We can also get the recommended amount of vitamin C by eating foods and beverages that are fortified with vitamin C. Some goat milk formulas are fortified with vitamin C, to find out if vitamin C has been added to a food product, check the product labels.

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, which is a substance that can fight damage in the body caused by so-called free radicals. Vitamin C scavenges harmful free radicals leaving the ascorbyl radical, which is relatively stable and unreactive.

Vitamin C as an anti-inflammatory agent

Vitamin C has been used to prevent or delay the occurrence of chronic diseases and to treat certain illnesses. There is evidence on the therapeutic role of vitamin C in several chronic illnesses including cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and respiratory illnesses.  

Vitamin C plays an important role in immune functions and improves the absorption of nonheme iron, the form of iron present in plant-based foods.  This can protect the body from disease.

Treatment with vitamin C has shown to substantially lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure in mild-to-moderately hypertensive patients. Vitamin C may also help to prevent complications from diabetes mellitus (DM) such as diabetic retinopathy, improve high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDLC) and improve endothelial function.

A study carried out by Ellulu et al. (2015) among obese (BMI≥ 30kg/m²) aged between 20 to 60 years in Palestine found that there is a clear effect of 1g of vitamin C in alleviating inflammatory markers (hs-CRP and IL-6) among hypertensive and/or diabetic obese adults. Also, vitamin C strongly affected the level of fasting blood glucose (FBG), significantly reducing it after 8 weeks of daily intake.

Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) of Vitamin C for Malaysian

The amount of vitamin C you need each day depends on your age, average daily recommended amounts for different ages developed by the National Coordinating Committee for Food and Nutrition (2017) is as follows:

Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (UL)

As for the maximum daily intake unlikely to cause adverse health effects is recommended as follows:

References:

1. National Coordinating Committee for Food and Nutrition (2017). Recommended Nutrient Intake. 
2. Ellulu, M. S., Rahmat, A., Ismail, P., Khaza’ai, H., & Abed, Y. (2015). Effect of vitamin C on inflammation and metabolic markers in hypertensive and/or diabetic obese adults: a randomized controlled trial. Drug Design, Development and Therapy, 3405. doi:10.2147/dddt.s83144 

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