Put the "C" in Cuisine!

Do you enjoy the idea of belonging to an elite group? Well, along with a fruit-eating bat, a species of trout, apes, guinea pigs, and the red-vented bulbul bird, humans are among the few species that cannot synthesize their own vitamin C! Your gums need vitamin C to stay pink and healthy and to give you nice-smelling breath and a youthful appearance.

How do you get enough vitamin C? Well, you could eat two grapefruits a day like the participants in one study. The increased vitamin C helped both smokers and non-smokers to improve their periodontal health. Thankfully, though, the vitamin is abundantly available in foods as diverse as oranges, lemons, spinach, potatoes, kohlrabi, guava, and papaya.

Now, get ready to smile - because humans are special in another way! Only we humans cook. So you can get vitamin C whether you're dining vegetarian or nouvelle cuisine, Chinese, Kosher, Italian-American, Mexican, or Indian curry takeout!