Vitamin C deficiency symptoms: what your body shows, who falls short and when to see your GP

Vitamin C deficiency symptoms and what a deficiency does

In this article you will read about the symptoms of vitamin C deficiency and which complaints a deficiency may cause, who is deficient, how much you need and which signs are a reason to see your GP. That matters, because many people with a low level notice few or no symptoms,⁠⁴ while scurvy, the disease at the end of a long deficiency, still occurs in wealthy countries.⁠⁵ BioProfile’s lifestyle scan gives you an indication of where your habits stand today. The scan is not a diagnosis. It is insight, to see where you stand today and to help you make better choices in your diet and lifestyle. The scan cannot measure the vitamin C in your blood and cannot point to a cause. Only a doctor can assess that.

According to the Voedingscentrum, a long-lasting and serious shortage of vitamin C can be the cause of lower resistance, wounds that close more slowly and, in the end, scurvy.⁠¹ In plain words: your body is less able to fight off germs, and a cut or graze in your skin takes longer to close.⁠¹

Vitamin C deficiency symptoms doctors see today

In 2023, Dutch doctors described three recent patients with a vitamin C deficiency. The patients had bleeding, listlessness and oedema, which means the body holds on to fluid, and their symptoms clearly lessened once their vitamin C had been topped up.⁠² Put simply: these patients bled more easily, felt listless and had swelling.

A recent review brought together 25 studies, published between 2012 and 2025, on 147 people with scurvy in wealthy countries. On average, the disease affected just over two body systems at once. Complaints of the muscles, bones and joints formed the largest group, and neurological complaints were clearly less common.⁠⁵ For you, this means scurvy now rarely shows itself as a single, isolated sign. What doctors mostly see is pain in the muscles, bones or joints.

If you search for vitamin C deficiency symptoms on the skin, the Voedingscentrum mainly points to one sign: wounds that close more slowly than normal.⁠¹ Bleeding, as seen in the Dutch patients, is the other visible sign in these sources.⁠²

Vitamin C deficiency symptoms in mood and thinking

A systematic review of nine studies, including people with and without physical signs of scurvy, found that a vitamin C deficiency goes hand in hand with depression and with weaker thinking. No such link emerged for psychosis.⁠³ In a British group of 921 people, a moderate to severe deficiency went together with a clearly higher chance of weaker thinking. In a New Zealand group of 404 people, a blood level below 23 micromol per litre went together with roughly twice the chance of mild problems with memory and thinking.⁠³ A low mood and weaker thinking were already seen at blood levels above those at which the physical signs of scurvy appear.⁠³ Put simply: a deficiency can show in how you feel and think, even before the body shows the signs of scurvy.

Who falls short

The Voedingscentrum writes: ‘There are no indications that vitamin C deficiency occurs in the Netherlands.’⁠⁶ In 2023, Dutch doctors added a nuance to that. Most doctors see scurvy as a disease of the past, but studies show that deficiency is common among people with alcohol problems, older people, people with a low socioeconomic status, people with a psychiatric condition and people with a restricted eating pattern, with a share of between 7.1 and 25 per cent.⁠² So for most people in the Netherlands a deficiency is unlikely, but in some groups it is strikingly common.

A worldwide review found that low levels and deficiency are common in low- and middle-income countries, and not unusual in wealthy countries. In northern India, 74 per cent of adults over 60 had a clear deficiency, and in southern India 46 per cent.⁠⁷ In the English EPIC-Norfolk study (1993 to 1997, more than 22,400 people aged 40 to 79), 1.4 per cent had a deficiency: 2.2 per cent of men and 0.8 per cent of women. Among British people aged 65 and over, the share was higher, at 14 per cent.⁠⁷ In a small study in five European countries, including the Netherlands, healthy non-smoking adults aged 25 to 45 had an average of 59 micromol of vitamin C per litre of blood: 54 in men and 64 in women.⁠⁷ In plain words: in these studies, women were less often deficient than men.

Of 7,277 Americans aged 6 and over, 7.1 per cent had a deficiency, meaning a blood level below 11.4 micromol per litre, compared with about 13 per cent in 1988 to 1994. Adult smokers had about a third less vitamin C in their blood than the rest of the adult group. Smokers and people on a low income were more often deficient, and people who had recently taken a supplement or got enough vitamin C from their food were less often deficient.⁠⁸ Among American adults in 2003 to 2006, 41.8 per cent had a level below 50 micromol per litre. Men, adults aged 20 to 59, smokers, people with a higher BMI and people living in poverty or unsure of having enough to eat had a low level relatively often.⁠⁴ Today, scurvy is found mainly in children with a developmental disorder, people with a very restricted diet, people in complex medical situations and people in socially vulnerable circumstances.⁠⁵

What this means for you: smoking, a one-sided diet, a tight budget and older age come up again and again, and a low level often causes no symptoms you would notice.⁠⁴ Older age is one of those circumstances. You can read what else changes over the years in what changes as you get older.

How much do you need, and can you just take a supplement?

For adults, the advice is 75 milligrams of vitamin C a day. The vitamin is found in fruit, vegetables and potatoes, with a lot in certain types of cabbage, peppers, citrus fruits, kiwis, berries and strawberries. No upper limit has been set, but more than 2 grams a day can upset your stomach and gut or cause diarrhoea.⁠¹ If you take a supplement, the advice is not to go above the recommended daily amount, so no more than 100 per cent of it. Even in high doses, taking vitamin C every day does not mean you get fewer colds. Taking extra all year round may make a cold about half a day shorter.⁠⁶ In practice, you get the vitamin from ordinary fruit, vegetables and potatoes, and taking more in pill form has little effect on colds.

When to see your GP

In the studies here, a deficiency is measured as a level in the blood.⁠⁸ Because bleeding is one of the signs, the advice on bruises from Thuisarts, the patient website of Dutch GPs, is useful here:⁠⁹

• Call your GP or the out-of-hours GP service straight away if you suddenly get several bruises on your body within 24 hours.
• Make an appointment on a weekday if you have several bruises and also, for example, a nosebleed that does not stop quickly, bleeding gums or blood in your urine.
• Also make an appointment if a bruise has not got smaller after 2 weeks or the pain has not eased.

These signs are a reason to see your GP, whatever the cause turns out to be.⁠⁹

What the lifestyle scan shows

The lifestyle scan asks about your daily habits and gives you a picture of where you stand today. A questionnaire cannot measure the vitamin C in your blood, so the scan tells you nothing about a deficiency. The scan is not a diagnosis. You can read how the pace of ageing can differ from the number of years you have lived in biological age versus calendar age.

In summary

A long-lasting and severe vitamin C deficiency can cause lower resistance, wounds that take longer to close and, in the end, scurvy.⁠¹ Today scurvy often shows up in the muscles, bones and joints, more often than elsewhere in the body.⁠⁵ A low mood and weaker thinking can come before the physical signs.⁠³ For most people in the Netherlands a deficiency is rare, but in some groups it is common,⁠² and a supplement above the recommended amount does not mean fewer colds.⁠⁶ Several bruises at once, or bruises together with bleeding, are a reason to see your GP.⁠⁹