10 signs of vitamin C deficiency

Easy bruising, bleeding under the nails, bleeding gums, slow-healing wounds… are warning signs that the body is lacking vitamin C.

Everyone needs to supplement vitamin C daily through diet because the body cannot synthesize this vitamin on its own. The recommended daily intake of vitamin C for adult men and women is about 100 mg per day.

According to Master, Doctor Nguyen Anh Duy Tung, Nutrihome Nutrition Clinic System, supplementing vitamin C less than the recommended needs will cause the body to show abnormal signs. However, not all symptoms are easy to recognize.

Aching limbs : The structure of the joints of the limbs contains a lot of connective tissue rich in collagen. Meanwhile, a lack of vitamin C negatively affects the formation of collagen in the joints, thereby making the limbs prone to pain.

Lack of vitamin C can cause rough skin. Photo: Freepik — Lack of vitamin C can cause rough skin. Photo: *Freepik*

Rough skin : Vitamin C plays a key role in the production of collagen, a protein that makes up connective tissue in the skin. Therefore, a deficiency of vitamin C can easily cause the skin to lose its elasticity, becoming aged, sagging and rough.

Slow-healing wounds: Vitamin C deficiency slows down the production of collagen in the skin, causing wounds to heal slowly. In addition, in severe cases of vitamin C deficiency, an old wound that has healed can reopen and increase the risk of infection.

Subungual hemorrhage: Vitamin C deficiency can also cause red spots or irregular streaks to appear on the nail bed due to broken weakened blood vessels. This phenomenon is called subungual hemorrhage.

Follicular hemorrhage: Hair follicles on the skin surface contain many small blood vessels that provide blood and nutrients needed for hair growth. When the body lacks vitamin C, the strength of these blood vessels is reduced, making them fragile, forming red hemorrhagic spots right under the hair follicles.

Easy bruising: The elasticity of blood vessels is severely reduced when the body lacks vitamin C. Therefore, even with just a slight impact, the capillary system under the skin can easily bleed and create bruises.

Susceptible to colds and fevers: Vitamin C strengthens the immune system by stimulating the movement of neutrophils to the site of infection and producing oxidants to destroy bacteria. Therefore, inappropriate vitamin C supplementation weakens the immune system, making the patient more susceptible to infectious diseases such as flu, fever, ear - nose - throat infections...

Easily overweight: With the same physical exercise, people who consume enough vitamin C can easily burn 30% more fat than those who consume less of this vitamin. Therefore, vitamin C deficiency makes you accumulate excess fat and gain weight faster than normal people.

Fatigue: Vitamin C helps the body synthesize norepinephrine - a neurotransmitter that helps increase heart rate and blood pressure temporarily. Therefore, a lack of vitamin C causes heart rate and blood pressure to decrease; thereby, triggering a series of feelings of depression, restlessness and anxiety in the brain.

Bleeding gums: Vitamin C deficiency weakens the collagen fibers in the periodontal ligament, making the gum tissue weaker, easily forming inflammatory foci (periodontitis) and causing bleeding gums.

Dr. Duy Tung added that not all cases of vitamin C deficiency have the same symptoms. To know exactly if your body is deficient in vitamin C, you need to perform a micronutrient test. Currently, the UPLC high-performance liquid chromatography system is applied to measure the content of micronutrients in the body at the lowest level (nanogram/ml of blood). From there, the doctor will advise on building a suitable nutritional menu for the patient.

Hiep Huynh

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