Vitamin C is the most popular food supplement taken in the form of tablets, capsules, crystal or drink mixes. As for foods, the richest sources of vitamin C are fruits, herbs and vegetables, but it can also be found in some meats, liver especially. The excess of vitamin C is disposed through urine.
Vitamin C is essential for your body’s scar tissue maintenance, for your blood vessels, and creating peptide hormones, tyrosine and dopamine. It is a powerful antioxidant and it lowers cancer risk. Recommended dietary allowance (RDA) varies from 45 to 90 mg, depending on the sex and the age of consumers.
Many animals, excluding humans, synthesize their own vitamin C. The quantities of vitamin C are the highest in liver, and the lowest in muscles. Since human diet mostly consists of eating muscles when it comes to meats, one should not rely on getting vitamin C only by eating meat. Vitamin C is present in human milk, but not in a cow milk.
Plants are the best source for vitamin C, but the concentration of vitamin C in certain plants depends on many different things: climate, soil, way of preservation, how much time has passed since it was picked, way of preparation, etc.
In general, ripe food is much higher in vitamin C than unripe, but foods contain more vitamin C the younger they are at the time of harvesting.
Some plants contain more vitamin C when they are fresh; some contain more of it when they are dried. Generally, all plants loose vitamin C when boiled, the so-called vitamin C leaching happens, so it is very important not to waste the water the plants are boiled in. The only plant that does not lose much of vitamin C during boiling is – broccoli.
Vitamin C can also decompose, mostly during cooking. In such cases, vegetables can lose up to 60% of vitamin C, depending on the length of cooking time.
Citrus fruits, such as lemons, oranges, grapefruits, limes, are high in vitamin C, but not the highest. Strawberries contain much higher concentration of vitamin C. Acerola Cherry contains about 65 times more vitamin C than the most popular citrus fruit – orange. Kiwi is rich in many vitamins, but it still holds more vitamin C than an orange. One serving of papayas will satisfy 100% of your body’s daily needs for vitamin C. Blackcurrants are high in vitamin C, and one serving contains twice as much vitamin C than daily needs. Guava is exotic fruit which contains almost three times as much as the daily needs. Melons and watermelons are a great source for vitamin C, and one serving satisfies daily needs.
Peppers contain high concentration of vitamin C. Yellow peppers are higher in vitamin C than red peppers. Red and green chili peppers are very high in vitamin C and only one of these peppers almost satisfies daily needs. Broccoli is one of the rare vegetables that has approximately the same concentration of vitamin C whether it is cooked or eaten raw. Cauliflower is also high in vitamin C, and one cup of it satisfies about 40% of vitamin C daily needs. Brussels sprouts satisfy about 50% of vitamin daily needs per serving. Red tomatoes, and especially dried tomatoes, are very high in vitamin C. Only one serving satisfies about 150% of daily needs.
Very important vitamin C foods are all leafy greens – kale, chard, spinach, mustard greens, etc. They have different concentration of vitamin C, but one serving of any of these at least satisfies the recommended daily needs. Cilantro, thyme, parsley, chives and basil, whether dried or raw, contain a lot of vitamin C. Thyme is the highest in vitamin C of all herbs.