Need Vitamin C? There are more ways to get your daily dose!

When we were kids we were told to eat oranges and other citrus fruit in the winter to make sure we got the Vitamin C we needed to stay healthy during winter and avoid catching a cold. It made perfect sense, oranges and nartjies were in season, so we ate them, and that meant we were healthy…sort of. A few years on, and now you can buy citrus fruit any time of the year, if you are willing to pay for it. Another option could be to eat other Vitamin C containing foods. According to standard calculations* you can get 1000mg of Vitamin C by eating the following

• 19 Oranges
• 73 Tomatoes
• 11 Head of Broccoli
• 169 Carrots

Not sure about you, but it’s unlikely that most people have enough fridge space for all of these vegetables, on a daily basis, never mind the stomach space. The question is, why do you need that much Vitamin C anyway? Isn’t 1000mg too much? Current RDA’s state that men and women over 19 years old require 90mg and 75mg respectively of Vitamin C per day (2d). That’s ten times less than 1000mg, and fewer vegetables to consume too. So why is one or two tomatoes and maybe three carrots not good enough?  Surely less is more, at least o n a daily basis?   There are actually a few good reasons why we need to consider supplementing our Vitamin C and mineral intake:

1. Our food may be less nutritious than it used to be

For many years there have been whisperings that the minerals and nutrients in our food have been decreasing; and many scientists have thought that this was due to poor soil conditions, but recent studies have found that it’s actually increasing levels of carbon dioxide that result in a decrease in nutrients in our food. This is scary, and the fact that our food has decreasing nutrients is even scarier. It therefore makes sense that we need to consider supplementing our diet with essential nutrients and minerals such as vitamin C, zinc, calcium, magnesium and selenium.

2. You need more Vitamin C to fight off disease

Back in the 1970’s, Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling popularized the theory that Vitamin C helps treat colds. What modern studies have revealed is that a supplemental dose of Vitamin C in adults and children can reduce the severity and duration of a cold. Furthermore, Vitamin C is essential for the proper functioning of immune cells. Not getting enough Vitamin C whilst you’re ill further weakens your immune system. Makes sense to keep your Vitamin C levels way up!   If these are good enough reasons for you, then maybe taking 1000mg of Vitamin C isn’t such a bad idea? But how can you be expected to eat a truckload of vegetables, on a daily basis – even if you’re vegan? It’s actually quite easy – simply take a Vitamin C supplement a from a trusted company – like Bettaway. We’ve been in the business of making Vitamins for over 36 years and we pride ourselves in our deep knowledge of human health. Or not? Who says eating 169 carrots is tough! *google calculator