Facts about Vitamin C
- 09
Citrus fruits and kiwis contain enzymes that break down vitamin C during storage, causing fresh-squeezed orange juice to lose approximately 20 percent of its ascorbic acid content within just 30 minutes of exposure to air.
- 08
Approximately 90 percent of dietary vitamin C is absorbed in the small intestine through active transport mechanisms that require sodium-dependent cotransporters called SVCT1 and SVCT2.
- 07
The human immune system produces interferon-gamma in response to vitamin C stimulation, which enhances the pathogen-fighting ability of white blood cells by up to 50 percent during bacterial infections.
- 06
Smokers require up to 35 milligrams more vitamin C daily than non-smokers because cigarette smoke rapidly depletes ascorbic acid levels in the bloodstream.
- 05
Scurvy killed an estimated two million sailors between the 16th and 18th centuries until British naval vessels began distributing lime juice rations containing vitamin C in 1747.
- 04
Collagen synthesis in human skin requires vitamin C as a cofactor, which is why topical ascorbic acid serums have become a multi-billion dollar skincare industry since the 1990s.
- 03
Guinea pigs require dietary vitamin C supplementation because they cannot synthesize it internally, making them valuable laboratory models for studying human scurvy prevention since the 1900s.
- 02
During the 1930s, Hungarian scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi won the Nobel Prize for identifying vitamin C as ascorbic acid and demonstrating its role in preventing scurvy.
- 01
A single orange contains approximately 53 milligrams of vitamin C, which meets about 88 percent of an adult's daily recommended intake.