Expired vitamin C / ascorbic acid - for how long is it good?

[Blanko]

How expired can ascorbic acid be before I should toss it? Also, what about Ester-C?

[pamojja]

Active ascorbic acid would fizzle, if combined in a glass of water with some bicarbonate.

[ofonorow]

How expired can ascorbic acid be before I should toss it? Also, what about Ester-C?

The baking soda test is a great idea pamojja, however, fizzing doesn't mean all the ascorbic acid hasn't oxidized. An off color could be an indicator. We accidentally discovered (cleaning out a basement) that our DSM Quali-C is so pure, nothing for ascorbate to react to, that it stayed "fresh" for more than seven years.

The baking soda test is a great way to determine whether someone is selling, say, baking soda as vitamin C. (We have had customer's return product where they had replaced the vitamin C with baking soda. We used vitamin C test strips, but this baking soda test is a great idea!)

If the product looks good, and does cause the fizzle, I would use it myself.

We used to have serious reservations about Ester-C because the experiments showed that it enters the blood stream faster, and lasts longer than regular ascorbic acid. That raised the question whether an "unnatural" form of vitamin C was wise? It also is a form of calcium ascorbate, and we all know Dr. Levy's opinion on calcium supplements....

The first editions of the Medical Medium books recommended Ester-C, which caused me to reevaluate the technology. The Medical Medium source has to recommend products that can be used by the largest number of people on planet Earth, and Ester-C is a buffered form of vitamin C, leading to fewer stomach issues. (Pauling wrote in the Vitamin C And Cancer Book, that both he and Cameron were surprised by the number of people during their cancer studies who complained about oral ascorbic acid. And Pauling himself added bicarb to his 9000 mg of drinks of ascorbic acid.[2 X daily))

So facing (what turned out to be a strong two-week) head cold, I started using Ester-C, and found that it performed much like our True-Liposomal vitamin C.

"We LOVE your True-Liposomal China-FREE vitamin C - it's helped my toddler on everything from the common cold to hand-foot-mouth disease." - Gloria J.

About 1/4 of the expected bowel tolerance dose kept the cold under control (in other words, the amount needed to control symptoms was cut to 1/4 using Ester-C. This approaches the effects seen using our True-Liposomal vitamin C. However, where True-Liposomal can eliminate acute infections in as little as six hours, Ester-C seems to require the same amount of time as ascorbic acid powder, but a much smaller dose eliminates symptoms . (Smaller bowel tolerance).

Although the Medical Medium has moved on to another form of buffered vitamin C, I use Ester-C myself, as an adjunct to our products.