Vitamin C: Nutrition, Side Effects & Supplements

Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. Vitamin C is required for a range of essential metabolic reactions in all animals and plants. All species that do not synthesise ascorbate require it in their diet. Deficiency in this vitamin causes the disease scurvy in humans. It is also widely used as a food additive. This book presents current research from across the globe in the study of Vitamin C including Vitamin C and the prevention of premature rupture of fetal membranes in pregnancy; Vitamin C supplementation in dialysis patients; Vitamin C in the monkey brain; postoperative Vitamin C treatment in septic abdominal surgery; and Vitamin C’s antioxidant effects on periodontitis.