Vitamin C and Mood Are Connected - Here's How
, 4 min reading time
Any time you feel an inkling of a cold coming on, chances are that you up your Vitamin C intake, stat. Bring on the orange juice! While it is true that Vitamin C can help support the immune system, it is not all the nutrient is good for. Like Beyonce, it is a multi-hyphenate multi-tasker. Besides immunity, Vitamin C is known for keeping skin dewy and supporting mental health.
Yep, you read that right. A little-known fact about Vitamin C is that it is a significant mood booster. "Many people have heard about how Vitamin C can help protect us during cold and flu season. But Vitamin C can also protect against poor mental health," says Uma Naidoo, MD, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, and professional chef. She touches on a connection in her new book, This Is Your Brain on Food. Here, Dr Naidoo explains the relationship between Vitamin C and mood, including ensuring you get enough to support your mental health.
How Vitamin C and mood are connected
Dr Naidoo explains that Vitamin C is a mood booster because it is essential to produce neurotransmitters in the brain. Even if you have not entirely gone down the rabbit hole researching how mood is regulated, there is a good chance you have heard of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is a "happy" brain chemical linked to energising us and plays a vital role in the brain's pleasure and reward systems. Dr Naidoo explains that insufficient Vitamin C can cause dopamine levels to drop. Scientific studies also show that Vitamin C helps convert dopamine into another neurotransmitter called norepinephrine. When norepinephrine levels are low, it can lead to feeling depressed or anxious.
"These neurotransmitters govern things like mood and cognition as well as protect the brain from inflammation," Dr Naidoo says. She explains that this is important because many mental health conditions are connected to underlying inflammation. This is precisely why more psychiatrists are starting to prescribe anti-inflammatory foods to their patients. "One of the keys to managing mental health is focusing on the gut," Dr Naidoo says. "The mind-gut connection is strong, so it's important to protect the gut from inflammation, and Vitamin C can help with that."
Dr Naidoo says that Vitamin C is connected to mood because it affects our energy levels. "When the body is inflamed, this puts stress on the body; it requires energy to protect and fight inflammation," she explains. "So, when inflammation is reduced, you can expect your energy to improve as well." If you have ever experienced a nasty bout of digestive distress, you know how energy-depleted it can make you feel. The same goes for when your body is fighting off a bad cold. So even though Vitamin C does not have calories, it makes sense that it still affects energy levels.
How to get enough Vitamin C to benefit your mental health
Of course, there are a lot of factors that play into one's mood; Vitamin C is just one. So how do you know if that is the issue you need to focus on to better your mental health? Dr Naidoo says that if you are consistently feeling depressed or anxious, you must talk to a doctor and a therapist. A therapist can help see what factors outside of health may be influencing mood. A doctor, Dr Naidoo says, can do a clinical assessment to see if you are low in Vitamin C (and other nutrients) to determine if that could play a role. For example, Vitamin D deficiency can also affect someone's mood.
If your doctor does tell you that you need to up your Vitamin C, the good news is that it is to do so. The key is knowing what foods the best sources are. Dr Naidoo says you generally aim to get between 65 milligrams and 90 milligrams of Vitamin C daily. "There are so many foods that can help you reach this," she says. Some she often recommends to patients are citrus fruits, red bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli.
One orange alone has 82 milligrams of Vitamin C—an entire day's worth. One bell pepper has 342 milligrams, a serving of Brussels sprouts has 85 milligrams, and broccoli has 89 milligrams. See how easy it is to get enough?
Again, Vitamin C is not the only factor that affects mood. Heck, it is not even the only nutrient that affects mood. But if you are not getting enough Vitamin C, it can lead to a dip in mood and energy. That means it is something to ensure you are always getting enough of, not just when you are sick. When you eat foods high in Vitamin C, your whole body will benefit—the brain included!
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