The Miracle Of Vitamin C

The benefits of vitamin C

Backed by reliable scientific evidence, Vitamin C has been proven to benefit the skin in two important ways. First, vitamin C is an essential ingredient for tissue growth and repair, as well as collagen formation. With the production of collagen, it maintains skin’s suppleness and elasticity. Second, vitamin C is a key antioxidant that can protect you from free-radical damage that comes from sun exposure or any other source. It also helps to prevent water loss and therefore maintains the skin’s barrier function. So if vitamin C is properly delivered into the skin at the right strength, the potential benefits are remarkable.

There is also increasing evidence that vitamin C shields the skin from the sun’s burning rays, especially when it’s applied in high concentrations or combined with vitamin E, sunscreens, and skin soothers.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is one of the relatively few topical agents whose effectiveness against wrinkles has been proven by many scientists.

However, most medium-or less expensively priced vitamin C serums do not work. The reasons are insufficient concentrations and lack of stability. Only highly concentrated preparations (10% or more) deliver enough vitamin C to be topically effective.

Vitamin C stability

The second problem is stability. When exposed to air, vitamin C undergoes oxidation. The oxidized form of vitamin C is not only incapable of boosting collagen synthesis and scavenging free radicals, but is actually causes free-radical damage to skin proteins. The L-ascorbic acid form of vitamin C is the best-penetrating but the least stable form of vitamin C. Once vitamin C oxidizes, it loses it potency and is useless.

The oxidized vitamin C is dark yellow to brown. A fresh vitamin C serum is colorless. It is said that some skin-care companies offer highly concentrated vitamin C serums that even turn dark and oxidized while still on the counter shelves.

Potent vitamin C

L-ascorbic acid, a natural and more acidic form of vitamin C, is water-soluble. That means that it can gain admission only to the inside of a cell, which is mostly water. So Although L-ascorbic acid concentrates in the interior of the cell, it cannot prevent free-radical damage on the outside of a cell.

Vitamin C ester (ascorbyl palmitate), a more stable and most widely used fat-soluble derivative of vitamin C, is not acidic as compared to L-ascorbic acid. But it is said to be less effective in building collagen as L-ascorbic acid or magnesium ascorbyl phosphate. As it is fat-soluble, the beneficial part is that it is totally non-irritating and can easily be absorbed into the skin.

Supplements and food

And although taking oral vitamin C is important and healthy, applying it topically is the most potent way to get its anti-aging benefit for your skin.

What you can find it – Citrus fruits, such as grapefruits, lemons, oranges, mango, asparagus, avocado and broccoli.

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