Vitamin C is the body’s leading water-soluble antioxidant, and its free-radical-scavenging abilities and anti-inflammatory actions are an important part of the body’s immune response across organ systems.*
For starters, the essential vitamin helps protect the body’s first line of defense—the skin.* Vitamin C helps strengthen the epithelial barrier4, aka the skin’s physical barrier that helps protect the body from the outside environment.* As a scavenger of reactive oxidative species (ROS), vitamin C maintains oxidative balance5 in the skin and throughout the rest of the body.*
When it comes to innate immunity (i.e., the natural defense mechanisms you are born with), vitamin C helps regulate several aspects of white blood cell function2.* It is involved in the production, regulation, and function of different types of leukocytes, such as neutrophils—white blood cells that patrol the body to keep it safe; in other words, you can’t even create the immune cells (to fight for you) without vitamin C.*
All in all, vitamin C is an undeniably important micronutrient that directly supports the immune system from multiple angles, helping to bolster the body’s natural defenses and combat oxidative stress.*
