Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that must be consumed regularly to prevent deficiency.

While deficiency is relatively rare in developed countries due to the availability of fresh produce and the addition of vitamin C to certain foods and supplements, it still affects roughly 7% of adults in the US ( 1 ).

The most common risk factors for vitamin C deficiency are poor diet, alcoholism, anorexia, severe mental illness, smoking and dialysis ( 2 , 3 ).

While symptoms of severe vitamin C deficiency can take months to develop, there are some subtle signs to watch out for.

Here are the 15 most common signs and symptoms of vitamin C deficiency.