Vitamin C is also important as it helps protect the fat-soluble vitamins A and E, as well as fatty acids from oxidation . It is therefore a reducing agent and scavenger of radicals (sink of radicals). Radicals, molecules with unpaired electrons, are very harmful to the body as a result of their high reactivity, which may induce mutations and possibly cancer. Vitamin C, being an excellent source of electrons, can therefore donate electrons to free radicals such as hydroxyl and superoxide and quench their reactivity.
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