Vitamin C deficiency and excess

Vitamin C has effects antioxidants and helps assimilate iron, folic acid and some amino acids. It is an essential vitamin for growth and development normal. It is essential for wound healing, collagen formation, and repair of cartilage, bones, and teeth. In addition, it can be helpful to eliminate those from our diet.

It is a very vitamin sensitive to the light, to the oxygen in the air and to the temperature.

Foods with higher content of vitamin C They are: kiwi, pepper, tomato, parsley, persimmon, orange, spinach, cauliflower and lemon.

Breast milk is very rich in Vitamin C.

Vitamin C excess

It is a very rare because the body cannot store it. Dose daily very tall Can cause stomach pain and diarrhea.

In the kids excess vitamin C can cause hyperoxaluria. It is a disease that accumulates calcium oxalate and can damage kidney and liver function and generate a decrease in calcium (hypocalcemia) that can cause severe cardiac arrhythmias.

Vitamin C deficiency

Severe deficiency of this vitamin causes the scurvy, but it is very rare today, since daily needs are covered with a minimum of raw vegetables that are consumed. As it is a water-soluble vitamin, it hardly accumulates in the body, so a daily intake is important.

Some infections or prolonged diarrhea can favor the appearance of ascorbic acid deficiency.

Most frequent symptoms when there is a deficiency of this vitamin:

• Irritability
• Fatigue
• Joint pain and inflammation of the joints
• Nose and gum hemorrhage (bleeding gums)
• Gingivitis (inflammation of the gums)
• Poor wound healing
• Tendency to bruise
• Rough and dry skin
• Dry hair
• Osteoporosis and brittle bones
• Weakening of tooth enamel
• Decreased ability to fight infection
• Decreased appetite

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Pediatric Specialist