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Vitamin C - Ascorbic Acid - The 'Antibiotic' Vitamin

Vitamin C appears in a white crystal form and is readily soluble in water. This vitamin is easily destroyed by heat, oxidation, drying, and storage. Alkalinity, even to a slight degree, is distinctly destructive to this vitamin. Acid fruits and vegetavles lose much less ascorbic acid on heating than non-acid foods. This vitamin is lost from some vegetables during the first few minutes of cooking.

Therefore, vitamin C - rich foods should be eaten very fresh, to obtain maximum benefits.

Absorption of vitamin C into the bloodstream takes place in the upper part of the small intestine. The amount of ascorbic acis in different tissues varies: the adrenal and pituitary tissue, brain, pancreas, kidneys, liver, and spleen have relatively high concentrations; blood cells contain even more than the bloodstream.

Vitamin C is excreted by the kidneys through the urine. Excretion is dimnished or absent when the body is already depleted of it. When there is an intake of over 3 g of vitamin C per day, the unabsorbed ascorbic acid is largely excreted in the faeces, and to a smaller extent, in the urine.

Related:

Scurvy - Caused due to Vitamin C Deficiency

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