Citrus Makes Sense

Snacking on vitamin C-rich oranges and grapefruit may help keep your joints healthy. Diets high in vitamin C appear to decrease the risk of an inflammatory joint condition called inflammatory polyarthritis. Compared to people whose diets were highest in vitamin C, people in a study whose diets were lowest in vitamin C had three times the risk of inflammatory polyarthritis. Inflammatory polyarthritis is a form of rheumatoid arthritis. It usually involves two or more joints.

Although high intakes of vitamin C may help reduce the risk of this form of arthritis, high intakes of vitamin C may not be right for everyone. Ask your doctor if you have conditions that may make high vitamin Cintake inadvisable. For most healthy people, a high intake of vitamin C is considered safe and beneficial to health. The optimum dose of vitamin C is 1,200 milligrams per day.