Vitamin C is water-soluble, which means that it is not stored in the body and you need to consume it every day. Eating foods rich in vitamin C is the most efficient way to get enough of this important vitamin, although you can get vitamin C from nutritional supplements, too. Citrus fruits are among the foods with the highest amounts of vitamin C, but beware of the high sugar content of many fruit juices and look for those that are 100% juice.
One of Vitamin C's top jobs is doing repair work on the body, so it is especially important for avid exercisers. Vitamin C is necessary to help the body make collagen, a protein that is a part of skin, scar tissue, ligaments, tendons, and blood vessels. Vitamin C also helps the body perform maintenance and repair on bones, teeth, and cartilage, and it helps wounds heal. If you don't eat enough foods rich in vitamin C, you may be less able to fight off infections and colds. You may experience dry, brittle hair and skin, as well as nosebleeds, bleeding gums, and poor quality tooth enamel.
Most health experts recommend 60 mg of vitamin C daily, which you can get easily from a single medium-sized orange (75 mg) or a cup of strawberries (85 mg). Other foods that are high in vitamin C include raspberries, blueberries, and pineapple. Although many people associate vitamin C with fruit, there's also plenty of it to be found in green peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, and Brussels sprouts.