This Vitamin Prevents Age Spots (Most People Don't Get Enough)

[00:01] important ones for staying healthy and aging well. Unlike most animals, humans can't make vitamin C ourselves. We have to get it from our food every day. And this is important because vitamin C

[00:13] supports collagen synthesis, skin health, immunity, antioxidant defense, going to break down what vitamin C actually does, how much you need, and it. Vitamin C is known as an antioxidant, but its primary role is

[00:27] probably collagen synthesis. The story of vitamin C is tightly intertwined with scurvy, a disease that once devastated sailors on long sea trips. For centuries, crews would develop bleeding gums, fragile skin, poor wound healing,

[00:40] that these symptoms are the result of the body's inability to produce collagen. The sailors on the sea were deficient in vitamin C because they didn't have fresh food during their long voyages. In 1747, Scottish naval surgeon

[00:53] James Lind conducted one of the first controlled clinical experiments. He showed that citrus fruits that contain vitamin C could cure scurvy. The sailors vegetables like sauerkraut, which is very high in vitamin C. The underlying

[01:06] mechanism was discovered much later. Vitamin C is essential for collagen synthesis, and without it, you start to see your connective tissue break down leading to the classical symptoms of scurvy such as bleeding gums. The

[01:18] pathway for vitamin C supporting collagen synthesis is this. Procollagen gets formed when hydroxyl groups get added to proline and lysine, which is a process called hydroxylation. This requires vitamin C. This results in the

[01:30] assembly of procollagen with its triple helix structure. Then, the secretion of procollagen outside the cells also requires vitamin C. Without copper or vitamin C, collagen wouldn't have its most characteristic qualities that make

[01:43] wound up together super tightly, and it's incredibly cross-linked. The formation of collagen from procollagen requires vitamin C. That's why vitamin C is often used in collagen supplements as well as in skin care products topically.

[01:56] So, does vitamin C supplementation support collagen synthesis in the joints and skin? Well, yes it does. A 2024 randomized controlled trial noted that supplementing 80 mg of vitamin C with 5 g of hydrolyzed collagen for 16 weeks

[02:10] lowered wrinkle volume by 13.8% wrinkle depth by 16.9% skin roughness by 9.6% and increased dermis density by 16.3% compared to placebo in healthy middle-aged women. The addition of 30 mg of hyaluronic acid

[02:24] provided some small additional benefits. Taking 48 mg of vitamin C before exercise together with 15 g of gelatin enhanced collagen synthesis in the tendons that are being trained. Both gelatin groups received vitamin C and

[02:37] there was no group who didn't get vitamin C. But, vitamin C before synthesis. If anything, it would support it. So, vitamin C helps to support maximize the benefits of collagen on skin and joints. I want to take a quick

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[03:57] vitamin C alone? Is it going to help the skin or joints when you just take it vitamin C have a lower likelihood of However, that refers to dietary vitamin C and could be a result of people who

[04:11] consume more fruits and vegetables. People who eat more vitamin C are just controlled studies looking at this. A brand new study tested the effects of eating a high vitamin C foods like kiwi fruit on skin vitamin C levels and

[04:24] collagen synthesis. Plasma and skin vitamin C also increased, showing that dietary vitamin C can reach the skin tissue. This was associated with improved skin function. So, eating more dietary vitamin C does help to supply

[04:36] more vitamin C to the skin. Oral vitamin E and C supplementation has been noted to increase the dose of UVB radiation from the sun needed to cause redness of the skin. As you can see from this graph, after 3 months, the minimal dose

[04:49] for UVB radiation to cause sunburns was significantly higher than before. This suggests that the skin becomes more resilient against sun damage when it has vitamin C has also been seen to clinically improve photodamaged skin and

[05:03] provide relief to deep furrows. When it comes to topical vitamin C, then the for wrinkles and photoaging. It can act locally in the skin and has clinical trials showing modest improvements. When talking about oral vitamin C alone, then

[05:16] wrinkles. It supports normal collagen formation, especially if the intake is low, but there is not strong evidence that extra vitamin C by itself visibly people. However, eating more dietary vitamin C appears to directly support

[05:30] skin collagen and function. Regarding joint function, a 2021 meta-analysis of that vitamin C supplementation significantly reduced the risk of complex regional pain syndrome after orthopedic procedures, but it didn't

[05:43] improve long-term functional outcomes or lower overall complications in patients vitamin C can lower inflammatory markers and reduce the use of opioid and reduce the use of opioids especially in the first 24 hours.

[05:57] synthesis and protects the skin against photoaging. Another important role for vitamin C is that a vitamin C deficiency atherosclerosis and scarring of blood vessels. Scurvy in arteries is

[06:10] essentially atherosclerosis or inadequate blood vessel healing and integrity. In the mouth, scurvy causes bleeding gums, but a similar phenomenon of bleeding tissues and then the subsequent clotting may occur in the

[06:22] which leads to vascular dysfunction, thrombosis, and myocardial infarction. have lower rates of heart disease probably cause they eat more fruits and healthier. But, it's partly also because vitamin C supports wound healing and

[06:37] without vitamin C you develop scurvy in the arteries essentially. And don't forget that vitamin C can act as an antioxidant, which lowers inflammation, atherosclerosis. The 2015 randomized controlled trial on obese individuals

[06:50] saw that 1,000 mg of vitamin C 500 mg twice a day for 8 weeks lowered inflammation as measured by hs-CRP by 48% and IL-6 by 36%. Fasting glucose also dropped by 33%. However, when it comes to overall heart disease risk

[07:05] reduction, then a 2017 Cochrane review of clinical trials concluded that vitamin C supplementation doesn't reduce the risk. However, a 3-year randomized placebo controlled trial in 520 men and postmenopausal women found that a

[07:18] combination of 250 mg of slow-release vitamin C and 91 mg of vitamin E given twice a day decreased the progression of carotid atherosclerosis in men. So, with deficiency can lead to poor wound healing in the gums and in the arteries.

[07:35] prevent vitamin C deficiency, but there's no evidence that taking large reduce the risk of heart disease or something like that. Lastly, I want to talk about the new finding regarding vitamin C's role in the broader context

[07:47] of aging. Recently, scientists discovered that vitamin C was able to reverse biological age clocks in monkeys by inhibiting an enzyme called ACSL4. ACSL4 leads to cell senescence through what's called ferro aging or iron

[08:01] accumulation. Excess iron levels are not only associated with a higher risk of they're also implicated in the process of biological aging through what's known as lipofuscin. Lipofuscin is often called the age pigment. It's a

[08:14] yellow-brown waste material that gradually accumulates inside long-lived cells like neurons, heart muscle cells, and retinal cells. It looks like dark Unlike many other forms of cellular damage, lipofuscin can't be eliminated

[08:27] that easily. As it accumulates over the course of decades, it begins to inhibit the normal cellular processing. Lipofuscin is made of oxidized proteins, damaged lipids, and iron. Iron acts as the catalyst that drives the process of

[08:39] lipofuscin accumulation. And vitamin C may help to interrupt this cycle in several ways, both as an antioxidant and by also supporting ferritin synthesis, safely and reducing the pool of free iron. So, based on all of this, how much

[08:52] vitamin C should you get per day? The recommended daily allowance RDA for vitamin C is only 90 mg for males and 75 mg for females. That's not a lot, and pieces of vegetables or fruit. To prevent scurvy, only 1 to 2 mg is

[09:07] needed, but potentially as much as 7 to 10. Intakes of 200 to 400 mg a day of vitamin C from food or supplements largely saturates plasma and neutrophils in most healthy adults. The benefits above this level are largely limited to

[09:20] common colds. You might see some additional benefits for antioxidant protection and blood sugar control at doses of 1,000 mg a day. So, taking over 200 to 400 mg of vitamin C can be an overkill, especially if you consume it

[09:33] in one meal or one supplement take. That's why for both supplementation and spread out the vitamin C across the day is a controversial supplement with many different opinions. Check out my video

[09:46] where I rank 100 supplements from worst to best based on clinical evidence.