Vitamin C

Vitamin C is important antioxidant that protects against diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Smoking depletes the body of this antioxidant.

Studies indicate even modest amounts of Vitamin C supplements go a long way in helping replenish the vitamin in smokers.

The study, conducted by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, was designed to gauge the effects of diet and smoking on antioxidant levels in the body.

Habitual smokers can benefit by improving their diet to include more fruits and vegetables, which contain a balance of antioxidants and other nutritional benefits, like fiber and carotenoids.

Alternatively, they can take vitamin C supplements.

Lehyas - like Chyawanprash, Kesar Jivan and Amrit Kalash (a similar lehya with variation in formula, but manufactured in the US) - and ayurvedic preparations are known to be many times more potent than Vitamin C (especially its antioxidant property). Regular consumption in the traditional manner should keep you physically 'fit' without any dependency on such articifial supplements.

If you were ever injured or fractured, you would have heard of the term Reflex sympathetic dystrophy. It causes pain, often severe, swelling, inflammation and decreased movement of the affected body part. The symptoms may remain often a year to three years after the injury has healed.

Supplements of Vitamin C (500 mg) are known to reduce the symptoms of RSD. It is speculated that the anti-oxidant activity of Vitamin C accelerates nerve and tissue repair. This suggests taking multivitamins (B Complex) and multiminerals (calcium, zinc, magnesium) after a fracture, since they too play a role in healing of the nerves, bones and tissues.