Is it true that vitamin C slows down the ageing process?
Sadly, this is just one of the many mythical attributes assigned to this vitamin. It’s probably based on the claim that deficiency of the vitamin (which ultimately leads to scurvy) has effects on the body similar to the changes typical of old age – wrinkled skin (due to the loss of the skin’s elastic quality), loss of teeth and brittleness of bones. Vitamin C does play an important part in the repair of the body’s tissues, but that doesn’t mean that taking extra will help slow down the inevitable ageing process. Vitamin C is essential for the formation and maintenance of collagen, a cement-like substance which holds all the cells of the body together, and forms connective tissue. As such, this protein provides the basic frame-work for both hard tissues (like bone and teeth) and soft tissue (like the membrane of capillaries and the fibrous tissue in scars). It is true that vitamin C deficiency can make your teeth fall out but only in very severe cases. One of the first obvious signs of
