Breaking Down Food: Vitamins Explained

Why Is It Important? Many people know about vitamin C because supplements are often advertised during cold and flu season — but this use of vitamin C is actually debated. For the average American, taking vitamin C only slightly shortened a cold — it didn’t prevent it. Nonetheless, vitamin C is important for many other reasons. Also called ascorbic acid, it is necessary for developing collagen for various parts of the body. Collagen is important for elasticity in the body. Collagen, and therefore vitamin C, is important for bone and skin health. A lack of collagen may result in the brittle bone disease known as osteoporosis.

Foods: Vitamin C is found in a lot of produce. A popular source of the vitamin is citrus like oranges, grapefruits and their juices.