24 Foods High in Vitamin C for a Healthy Immune System

Meals which are full of vitamin C are typically full of vegetables or fruit. Whereas lately vitamin C deficiency is extremely uncommon, within the 18th century when sailors launched into months-long journeys abroad without access to fresh vegetables and fruit, they typically developed scurvy, a illness that happens from extreme lack of vitamin C, in accordance with the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Signs of scurvy are anaemia, gum illness and pores and skin haemorrhages.

Below is a list of vitamin C foods and a description of the way they will help your well being. Observe that the FDA calculates its Daily Value (DV) percentages primarily based on consuming 90 milligrams of vitamin C per day.

This brilliant tropical fruit is the highest ranking food in providing you with ascorbic acid, providing 419 percent (!) of the DV in addition to 9 grams of fibre and 4 grams of protein per 1-cup serving. Mix it into your favourite smoothie for a refreshing, hydrating and vitamin C-packed snack.

Bell peppers of all colours are wonderful sources of vitamin C, however red comprises probably the most, with 211 percent of the DV per 1 cup uncooked. Red bell peppers additionally include a lot greater range of beta-carotene (that is why they’re red!) than their younger yellow sisters.

Red bell peppers also include fibre and a little bit of plant-based iron!

Kiwifruit — kiwi for brief — hails from New Zealand, and its sweet young flesh delivers 185 percent of the DV for vitamin C per cup (that is about two entire fruits).

Kiwi can be a very good supply of fibre and supplies you with some potassium and phosphor. Cut your kiwi in half and use a spoon to scoop out the fruit from its personal bowl.

Whereas Yellow bell peppers do not provide as much vitamin C as red bell peppers, 1 cup will get you effectively over your every day requirements with 133 percent of the DV.

And like their red sister, yellow bell peppers provide some iron and fibre, making them a great nutritious addition to salads and stir-fries.

Broccoli is the better-liked cousin of the Brussels sprout — they each hail from the species ​Brassica oleracea​ — so it is expected they share comparable dietary properties.

A 1-cup serving of cooked broccoli comprises 112 percent of the DV for vitamin C, 5 grams of fibre and almost 4 grams of protein. Broccoli can be a wonderful supply of fat-soluble vitamin K. Which means cooking the vegetable in a little bit of butter tastes nice ​and​ helps your body absorb the vitamin K.

Sure, strawberries (the one fruit to put on its seeds on it’s skin, by the best way) rank greater than oranges within the vitamin C division. (However don’t fret, we’ll get to oranges quickly.)

A 1-cup serving of this summer time favourite delivers 108 percent of the DV for vitamin C and three grams of fibre.

You both love ’em or hate ’em, however there isn’t any query that Brussels sprouts pack a dietary punch. They’re greater in vitamin C than oranges, with 107 percent of the DV per cooked cup and have fibre and plant-based protein.

Roasted Brussels sprouts are a fan favourite, give them a try !

Whereas oranges and orange juice are the poster kids for vitamin C they’ve a lot less nutritional value than many other vegetables and fruit. However 1 cup will nonetheless clock in at greater than your every day needs: 106 percent of the DV for vitamin C.

Orange juice is commonly fortified with necessary vitamins, together with calcium and vitamin D, making it a wholesome a part of your weight loss program but it does have an excessive sugar range.

A cup of this pink-red fruit delivers nearly a full day’s price of vitamin C, with 95 percent of the DV.

Due to its pink coloration, the tropical fruit can be a very good supply of vitamin A and lycopene, which is a strong antioxidant present in pink/red meals (like tomatoes) that has been linked to decrease stroke threat, in accordance with the American Heart Association (AHA).

Grapefruit, orange’s tart cousin, gives comparable diet. (However no, it doesn’t boast sufficient diet so that you can safely comply with the infamous grapefruit fad diet for weight reduction.)

A 1-cup serving gives 95 percent of the DV for vitamin C, making it a tasty various to oranges for while you need to swap up your citrus fruits. The pink and pink varieties are good sources of beta-carotene, which is required to make vitamin A, in addition to lycopene, in accordance with the AHA.

Pineapple, another tropical fruit, provides sweetness and excessive quantities of vitamin C: 88 percent of the DV per cup.

Pineapple may be cut into chunks, sliced into spear rings and gives a delicious smoky-sweet taste when grilled.

Ripe mango is nice, juicy and creamy, nevertheless it’s also one of many higher-sugar fruits, with 45 p.c of the DV for sugar per 1-cup serving. It also provides you with many different vitamins, making it a great wholesome choice.

Per 1-cup serving, mango has 67 percent of the DV for vitamin C. It additionally has smaller quantities of potassium and nutritional vitamins A, E and K.

If you are looking into how to get extra vitamin C, fruit is the best way to go. Cantaloupe melon is hydrating because of its water content and supplies 65 percent of the DV for vitamin C per 1-cup serving.

Cantaloupe, like different melons together with watermelon, additionally include vitamin A, vitamin B6, potassium and fiber, in accordance with the USDA.

One other cruciferous vegetable, like Brussels sprouts and broccoli, cauliflower is a wonderful supply of vitamin C, with 61 percent of the DV per 1 cup cooked.

Cauliflower, which is available in a number of varieties, together with white, purple, inexperienced and Romanesco, gives fibre and vitamin K.

Tomatoes, cooked or uncooked, are a very good supply of many vitamins, together with the antioxidant lycopene. Cooked tomatoes, although, are greater in vitamin C than uncooked tomatoes, with 61 percent of the DV versus 23 percent per cup.

It is worth noting, nonetheless, that cooking greens tends to lower its vitamin C ranges, in accordance with an April 2018 examine printed in ​Food Science and Biotechnology.​

Orange’s little sister, the tangerine, are the right snack: The one-bite slices are juicy and candy, and a 1-cup serving packs 58 percent of the DV for vitamin C.

Tangerines additionally present some calcium, potassium and iron. Add sliced tangerines to yogurt or oatmeal for pure sweetness and fibre.

In case you’re in search of a extra hearty supply of vitamin C other than citrus fruits or cruciferous greens, look to sweet potatoes. A 1-cup serving of baked sweet potato (could we suggest a touch of cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup ?) comprises 44 percent of the DV for vitamin C.

Sweet potatoes are abundant in beta-carotene — giving their orange coloration — and have almost 7 grams of fibre per cup.

Peas are available quite a lot of shapes, sizes and colours. The flat snow pea pod comprises very small peas, and when you take away the strings from the pod, you’ll be able to eat the complete factor. Like most peas, snow peas are low in energy: 1 cup comprises simply 26 energy but additionally supplies 42 percent of the DV for vitamin C.

Poppable, juicy, candy and excessive in vitamins, raspberries are the right snack or topper for cereal, yogurt and oatmeal. A 1-cup serving offers you 36 percent of the DV for vitamin C and eight grams of fibre.

Per cup, blackberries include only a bit much less vitamin C than raspberries, with 34 percent of your DV. Prime your favourite cereal, yogurt or oatmeal with these antioxidant-rich berries that additionally present almost 8 grams of fibre per serving.

Cooked kale is a heavy-hitter because of its vitamin C — 26 percent of the DV per cooked cup. It additionally packs vitamin Okay — 453 p.c (!) of the DV — and iron.

There’s kale after which there’s spinach: Each are well-liked leafy greens (particularly the newborn variations, which are usually much less bitter) that present high quality diet.

A 1-cup serving of cooked spinach comprises 20 percent of the DV for vitamin C. Spinach can be a very good supply of plant-based iron and potassium. And like all leafy greens, spinach is a wonderful supply of folate, which is very necessary in early levels of being pregnant.

In the case of total antioxidant efficiency, blueberries take the… pie. The small berry is wealthy in anthocyanins — antioxidants that give blueberries their blue coloration — and has anti-inflammatory results, in accordance with a March 2020 evaluation in ​Advances in Nutrition.​

This hydrating fruit comprises 14 percent of the DV for vitamin C per cup. Watermelon additionally supplies you with potassium (an electrolyte), making it an ideal snack post-workout.

Under, try this useful chart that lists the highest meals excessive in vitamin C.