What Is Vitamin C & What Foods Can I Find It In?
Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid.
It’s an essential nutrient and an important antioxidant.
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin and an important cofactor that is involved in the regulation of development, function, and maintenance of several cell types in the body.
It’s the most potent enhancer of nonheme iron absorption.
Table of Contents
Vitamin C Is Essential
Vitamin C is an essential water-soluble vitamin, also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate.
The body requires vitamin C for normal physiological functions. (source ◳)
Vitamin C has three main roles in human metabolism – enzyme cofactor, chemical reductant, and antioxidant. (source ◳)
Vitamin C Can Easily Be Destroyed
Ascorbic acid can be easily destroyed by heat.
Foods can therefore lose their ascorbic acid content because of cooking or oxidation.
The vitamin C content in food can also decrease by prolonged storage. (source ◳)
Vitamin C Every Day
Humans are unable to synthesize ascorbic acid, therefore we need to obtain vitamin C from our daily diet.
Foods You Can Find Vitamin C In
You find Vitamin C mostly in baby food, beverages, vegetables, and fruits.
Examples of food sources include
- Gerber 2nd Foods
- Fruit-Flavored Drink
- Orange-Flavor Drink
- Sweet Red Peppers
- Acerola
- Acerola Juice
- Green Tea
Foods That Contain Vitamin C In Our Nutrition Tool
You can find regularly updated top ranked lists of foods for over 200+ nutrients in our nutrition tool.
If you are interested in what foods contain the most Vitamin C we recommend you visit our tool.
Here's our top ranked list of foods that contain Vitamin C.