Vitamin C Forum

Vitamin C, ascorbic acid - The name gives it away, there is no chemical difference between "natural" and "synthetic" vitamin C; it's both plain ascorbic acid. What is missing if you get your vitamin C in pill instead of apple, citrus-fruit and other food-born forms are yet the active form of vitamin C, dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA), and its natural synergists which are required for vitamin C to work optimally...

Studies have shown that the "bioavailability of vitamin C in food and 'natural form' supplements is not significantly different from that of pure synthetic AA" which is true, when we look at ascorbic acid in isolation like Mangels et al. (Mangels. 1993) did... Mangels et al. did yet ignore the individual and synergistic effects of DHAA or other food constituents associated with natural vitamin C which may have positive effects other than raising serum ascorbate levels. Preliminary data from Vinson et al. (1988) however suggests that vitamin C complexed in food is absorbed 1.74 times more into red blood cells than isolated USP ascorbic acid...

A result that leaves no doubt that simple serum vitamin C measurements as they are done in most studies may be insufficient to identify the subtle advantages of natural vitamin C which does not come in pill form...