Fruit juice was the main dietary source of vitamin C. (CBC)

More than 20 per cent of Canadian adults do not get enough vitamin C from their diet, a new report says.

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that contributes to the formation and health of blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, bones, teeth and gums. It also helps the body absorb iron and recover from wounds and burns.

The report, issued Tuesday by Statistics Canada, is based on results of the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey on nutrition.

Fruit juice, fruit drinks and citrus fruits accounted for 50 per cent of the vitamin C that Canadians got from food, the agency said.

Canadians averaged 132 milligrams of vitamin C a day from food. The estimated vitamin C requirements range from 13 milligrams for toddlers aged one to three to 75 milligrams a day for adult men and 60 milligrams for adult women, according to the U.S. Institute of Medicine, which reviews dietary reference intakes for Canada and the U.S.

"High averages, however, hide the substantial percentages of various groups whose vitamin C intake from food left them below the recommended levels," wrote Didier Garriguet of the agency's health analysis division.

When smokers' greater vitamin C requirements are factored in, 21 per cent to 35 per cent of men aged 19 or older and 17 per cent to 26 per cent of women had inadequate dietary intake.

Not surprisingly, 46 per cent of people who said they ate fruit and vegetables no more than three times a day had inadequate dietary intake of the vitamin.

In 2004, 31 per cent of Canadians said they took supplements containing vitamin C. Generally, those with the higher average dietary intake were the most likely to take supplements. That includes 36 per cent of people who ate fruit and vegetables more than six times a day and 38 per cent of those with the highest household incomes.

Given supplement use by those already eating more fruits and vegetables and how more than two-thirds of Canadians did not take supplements, the overall effect of the pills was relatively modest at a population level, Garriguet said.

Supplement use lowers the overall percentage of adults with inadequate intake by five percentage points to 17 per cent.

For the survey, 35,107 people responded to a 24-diet recall and then a subsample of 10,786 participated in a second diet recall three to 10 days later. Participants were asked about their consumption of vitamin and mineral supplements in the previous 30 days.