Detection of Vitamin C and It's Suitable Conditions

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an essential nutrient for living organisms, especially humans. It’s a water-soluble present in some fruits and vegetables due to its protective role. Vitamin C is responsible for the formation of protein that protects our skin from wrinkling, it helps in healing of wounds and repairing, maintaining bones, teeth and cartilage. It is also an antioxidant activity which prevents certain disease such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, common cold, age-related macular  degeneration and cataract. Lack of vitamin C in the diet leads to scurvy that is characterized by general weakness, anemia, skin hemorrhages, etc. As a result, researchers, medical professionals and pharmaceutical and food industries place a high priority on detecting and quantifying ascorbic acid in food samples and nutraceuticals. Moreover there are some factors that affect vitamin C content in some fruits such as temperature and storage.

The main source of vitamin C for human beings is mainly found in fruits and vegetables since the human body doesn’t produce or store vitamin C. So, humans need to get this nutrient from their diet. Here are some: 

Table 1. Dietary Sources of Vitamin C

Food	Standard amount	Vitamin C content (mg)
Guava	Raw, ½ cup	188
Red sweet pepper	Raw, ½ cup	142
Red sweet pepper	Cooked, ½ cup	116
Kiwi fruit	1 medium	70
Orange	Raw, 1 medium	70
Orange juice	¾ cup	61-93
Grapefruit juice	¾ cup	50-70
Strawberries	Raw, ½ cup	49
Papaya	¼ medium	47

Detecting and sensing of vitamin C:

Several analytical techniques are used to determine vitamin C such as:

1-High -performance liquid chromatography (HPLC):

• HPLC is used since it is a sensitive and a selective method.
• HPLC is more favored than other techniques since it’s faster and more effective 

Detection of vitamin C has been done in several groups:

• HPLC was used to detect vitamin C in fruits and vegetables
• HPLC was used to determine vitamin C in pharmaceutical samples

2-Spectrophotometric method:

• It is a simple, sensitive and less expensive method.
• A technique was based on vitamin C (ascorbic acid) oxidation to dehydroascorbic acid by using bromine water in the presence of acetic acid. This technique the total ascorbic acid (ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid) has been determined by 21 different samples of fruits and vegetables by using spectrophotometric technique.


Effects of Temperature and Storage on Vitamin C:

High temperature leads to a loss in vitamin C content of fruits. So, it is preferred to store vitamin C in a place below room temperature or at low temperatures. Several chemical reactions participate to the loss of storage life of ascorbic acid and hence the deterioration of fruits

 Conclusion:

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for our growth and for disease prevention. It has a variety of functions in our body such as it extends the life cells, helps in healing of wounds, and may help boost our immune system and protect us from viral infections and bacteria. Further studies showed that dietary intake of vitamin C varies according to age, for example infants should get around 40mg/day of vitamin C, healthy adults should get around 65-90mg/day and breastfeeding women should take around 120mg/day.