Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, meaning it is not stored in your body and you must consume adequate amounts from your diet throughout the day. Struggling through the day with chronic pain in your hands, knees or other joints can be exhausting. Getting enough vitamin C, either through diet or supplements, can help relieve or prevent pain in your joints. If you decide to take a vitamin C supplement, discuss it with your physician first to ensure it is the best option for you.
Antioxidant Functions of Vitamin C
Most commonly, vitamin C is known for its ability to keep your immune system functioning at its best. Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant in your body by fighting off free radicals, which are highly active substances that permanently damage cells and tissues. This powerful vitamin has been shown to regenerate other antioxidants, such as the alpha-tocopherol form of vitamin E, explains the Office of Dietary Supplements.
Effects on Joint Pain
Your body needs vitamin C for the synthesis of collagen. This substance is a component of ligaments, tendons, cartilage and other types of connective tissue. When cartilage breaks down, you may experience pain in joints and have an increased risk of fractures or damage to connective tissue. For example, osteoarthritis is a form of chronic inflammation in joints that causes the breakdown of cartilage, causing bones to rub together and pressure to form in joints. Ingesting your vitamin C each day allows your body to produce collagen to keep cartilage strong, decreasing the pain you experience. Additionally, the antioxidant properties of vitamin C help protect cartilage, limiting its destruction, the University of Maryland reports.
Benefits for Fractures
A study published in the "Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery" in 2007 reports that vitamin C can reduce pain in wrist fractures. Subjects in the study had confirmed broken wrists and were given varying levels of vitamin C, 200 mg, 500 mg or 1,000 mg, for 50 days. The study concludes that consuming 500 mg of vitamin C for 50 days can benefit pain in wrists after fractures. If your joint pain is fracture related, taking a daily dose of vitamin C may help alleviate some of your pain.
Proper Dosage
The recommended dietary allowance, or RDA, for vitamin C is 90 mg per day for men and 75 mg for women. If you are pregnant, your dosage increases to 85 mg and breast-feeding ups your intake to 120 mg. Smoking increases oxidative stress, or free radicals, throughout your body. This can increase your joint pain, since free radicals damage cartilage. Being a frequent smoker increases your vitamin C needs by an additional 35 mg per day.
www.livestrong.com
No comments:
Post a Comment