Vitamin C: Your Daily Shield

 Vitamin C gets talked about like it’s just a “cold season vitamin.”

But the science paints a bigger picture: vitamin C supports immune defence at multiple levels—from the strength of your body’s protective barriers to how effectively immune cells find and neutralise threats.

This article is based on a major scientific review published in Nutrients (2017). You can read it here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5707683/

And if you’d like the short version on the benefits of vitamin c in our earlier post, you can read it here. 

Vitamin C doesn’t just “boost immunity” - it supports how immunity works

The immune system is a coordinated network: barriers (skin, airways, gut lining), specialised cells, signalling molecules, and repair processes.

Vitamin C contributes in two major ways:

  1. Antioxidant protection
    Immune responses create oxidative stress as part of fighting pathogens. Vitamin C helps neutralise excess oxidants so the immune response can do its job without unnecessary tissue damage.

  2. Enzyme support (cofactor role)
    Vitamin C is required for enzymes involved in collagen formation (important for skin and tissue integrity) and enzymes involved in gene regulation—which can influence immune cell behaviour.

First line of defence: barriers that keep pathogens out

Your immune system isn’t only what happens after you get sick.

A big part of staying well is stopping pathogens from getting in and gaining traction.

Vitamin C supports:

  • collagen production and stabilisation, helping maintain healthy tissue structure

  • skin antioxidant activity, which may help protect against environmental oxidative stressors (think pollution, smoke, UV load)

If the barrier is compromised, you’re starting the fight from behind.

Vitamin C and your “frontline” immune cells (neutrophils)

The review highlights vitamin C’s strongest evidence base in phagocytic cells, especially neutrophils.

Neutrophils are rapid-response immune cells. Vitamin C accumulates inside them at far higher levels than what’s circulating in your blood.

Vitamin C is associated with neutrophil functions like:

  • chemotaxis: moving toward the site of infection

  • phagocytosis: engulfing pathogens

  • reactive oxygen species generation: part of microbial killing

  • effective clearance after the fight: helping the body resolve inflammation cleanly

That last part matters more than most people realise.

A smart immune response includes a clean “shutdown”

A common issue during infection isn’t only the pathogen - it’s the damage from an immune response that drags on too long.

The paper explains that vitamin C supports:

  • apoptosis (programmed “retirement”) of spent neutrophils

  • clearance of those cells by macrophages

This process helps reduce messy inflammatory spillover that can increase tissue irritation.

What about B and T cells?

B and T cells are part of your adaptive immune system (more targeted, more “memory-based”).

The review says vitamin C may help support:

  • B- and T-cell differentiation and proliferation

But it’s also clear that this area is less settled than the neutrophil findings, and that baseline vitamin C status matters (benefits are more likely when levels are low to begin with).

Why your vitamin C needs go up when you’re sick

One practical takeaway from the review is this:

Infections can lower vitamin C levels because inflammation and metabolic demand rise. So you can end up in a situation where:

  • low vitamin C impairs immune function and

  • infection further drains vitamin C

That’s one reason the authors distinguish between:

  • daily sufficiency for prevention, and

  • higher doses used during established infections in some studies.

How much vitamin C is “enough”?

The review suggests:

  • ~100–200 mg/day supports adequate-to-saturating plasma levels for many people (general immune support and maintenance)

  • much higher intakes (gram doses) have been studied for treatment contexts, because demand rises during infection

(Individual needs vary—diet, smoking, alcohol intake, stress load, and illness can all shift requirements.)

A simple way to cover your bases

Food first matters—fruit and vegetables are the foundation.

But for people who want a consistent daily intake (especially during high-stress periods, travel, heavy training blocks, or winter exposure), a well-formulated supplement can make adherence easier.

Click here for our vitamin C supplement. 

Disclaimer
We offer this post for education purposes only. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please consult your Health Practitioner for personalised and specific information.

 

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