Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C was first identified in the 1930s by Dr Albert Szent-Györgyi. Although it’s hard to imagine now, people would once get very sick or even die due to scurvy (caused by lack of vitamin C ).
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Luckily, understanding of vitamins has changed, and vitamin C deficiency in the UK is very rare.
However, having low vitamin C levels is not uncommon, especially in people who don’t eat many fruits and vegetables.
Vitamin C has a range of functions, including support for your immune system and maintaining normal skin health.
Vitamin C also helps our bodies absorb iron from plant sources.2
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin. This means our bodies can’t store it, and each time we urinate, we lose a little vitamin C.
Our bodies can’t make it, either. Therefore, we need to make sure we have food or drink containing vitamin C every day to prevent us from running low. The NHS recommends that adults get 40mg of vitamin C per day.3