Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)

What is Vitamin C?

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an essential water-soluble vitamin that the human body cannot produce on its own and must obtain from diet or supplementation, found richly in citrus fruit, peppers, berries and leafy greens. Beyond its well-known role in immune support, vitamin C is a required cofactor for the enzymes that manufacture and stabilise collagen — the structural protein that gives skin its firmness and gradually declines with age.

Collagen Synthesis — The Core Mechanism

Without adequate vitamin C, the enzymes prolyl and lysyl hydroxylase cannot properly hydroxylate collagen's amino acid building blocks, resulting in weaker, less stable collagen structure — this is why severe vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) causes visible connective tissue breakdown. Even short of deficiency, adequate vitamin C status supports the ongoing collagen remodelling that keeps skin, blood vessels, and connective tissue functioning well through the aging process, which is why it's frequently paired with collagen peptide supplementation.

Antioxidant Role

As one of the body's primary water-soluble antioxidants, vitamin C neutralises free radicals in the blood and cellular fluid, and works synergistically with fat-soluble antioxidants like vitamin E — each regenerates the other after they've neutralised a free radical, extending the antioxidant capacity of both beyond what either could achieve alone.

Dosing Guidelines

• General health maintenance: 500–1000mg daily is a common supplemental range, well above the basic RDA which is set to prevent deficiency rather than optimise skin/antioxidant benefit
• Often combined with collagen peptides and vitamin E for a complementary skin-support stack
• Water-soluble — excess is excreted rather than stored, making significant overdose risk low, though very high doses (multiple grams) can cause digestive upset
• Those with a history of kidney stones should discuss high-dose vitamin C with a doctor first