Who doesn’t want to be that little bit healthier? Especially if improving your health involves minimal effort. With this in mind we’ve made it our mission to bring you news each week of a product, a foodstuff, an exercise technique or a pill that promises magical health-giving properties.

This week’s magic ingredient: Vitamin C.

Something of an omnipresent… Vitamin C is probably the vitamin you will come across most often. From foods to drinks to supplements, it’s everywhere. That said, studies frequently show that many of us still don’t have enough of it in our diet.

What is it exactly? Vitamin C or ascorbate as it is otherwise known is a powerful anti-oxidant which protects the body against oxidative stress. It is also used by the body in a number of process, most notably collagen synthesis reactions. When these processes are knocked out of kilter, we can end up with a variety of health issues, the most severe of which is the notorious scurvy.

So what does it do for you aside from helping you side-step the prospect of a dose of scurvy? There are a number of other benefits. Vitamin C increases your body’s ability to heal numerous different types of wounds and staves of bleeding from capillaries which will helps out your skin. It boosts your immune system and although it has not been shown to alleviate the symptoms of the common cold, one study has shown that taking it regularly does significantly reduce the frequency at which you catch it.

It also helps to protect skin against UV rays and reduces histamine levels which makes it a useful tool in allergy control and in the treatment of other autoimmune conditions. It is believed to help people with heart conditions and can prevent cataracts – the clouding of the lens of the eye that can lead to blindness in older adults. Another interesting study showed that supplementation of drinking water with vitamin C increased the average life span of mice by as much as 20 per cent. So it can’t be bad.

What is the best way to get it into you?

Studies have regularly shown that food is the best vehicle for this and other vitamins. This is due to the fact that various other trace elements, vitamins and minerals found in food help the body to absorb the vitamin C they contain. Taking vitamin C and other supplements in isolation has been shown to reduce their effectiveness.

While vitamin C is no substitute for a balanced diet containing foods rich in the substance, such as tomatoes and citrus fruits, taking a multi-vitamin either including or alongside vitamin C, will have benefits.

So where do you get it then? This gear can be had everywhere – you can pick up chewable vitamin C tablets in Aldi for about a Euro these days.