Who is at risk for vitamin c deficiency?
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is essential for collagen formation and helps maintain the integrity of substances of mesenchymal origin, such as connective tissue, osteoid tissue, and dentin. It is essential for wound healing and facilitates recovery from burns. This vitamin is a strong reducing agent and is reversibly oxidized and reduced in the body, functioning as a redox system in the cell. It is involved in the metabolism of phenylalanine and tyrosine. As a reductant (with oxygen, ferrous iron, and a 2-ketoacid), vitamin C activates enzymes that hydroxylate procollagen proline and lysine to procollagen hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine. In scorbutic animals, elastin becomes increasingly deficient in hydroxyproline. Vitamin C protects folic acid reductase, which converts folic acid to folinic acid, and may help release free folic acid from its conjugates in food. Vitamin C facilitates the absorption of iron. Severe deficiency results in scurvy, an acute or chronic disease characterized b
