Story of Vitamin C

 Story of Vitamin C

The concept of nutrition is not simple and is not modern. It evolved over many centuries and this was associated with man taking to sea and living away from land for considerable length of time. British sailors were called “limey” since they took lemons with them to sea to prevent scurvy.

But unlike limes lemon contain less Vitamin C.

I was in New Zealand for a brief period and I was inquisitive of the Kiwi fruit and to my surprise I found it was a Chinese fruit adapted to the conditions of the South Island. They were prospecting gold and were mining there under harsh and primitive conditions. The area is a now a tourist attraction and is called “Shanty Town”.

I bet Chinese workers suffered from scurvy and Kiwi fruit was brought there to prevent sickness. Kiwi fruit has nothing except Vitamin C. New Zealanders are good at marketing a bad product.

Let me dish out some facts.

Ascorbic acid is an carbon (organic) compound with the formula C6H8O6was originally called hexuronic acid.              

It belongs to the monosaccharide family.

It is an electron donor and is an antioxidant and prevents oxidative injury of molecules and cell membranes. 

Whereas, glucose is saturated with six OH radicals and is stable and is energy rich.

C6H12O6 is the molecular formula for glucose.

One needs about 75mg of Vitamin C daily. 

It is cheaper to take two tablets of 50mg Vitamin C but the companies market them in only 500mg tablets. 

Large amount of Vitamin C produces oxalate as a byproduct that can cause urinary stones. 

In its metabolism it is converted to 2,3-diketogulonate and lastly to oxalate. 

The metabolites are water soluble and are excreted via urine.

During times of low dietary intake, vitamin C is reabsorbed by the kidneys rather than excreted.

The isolation of these ingredients was a painful process and thankfully, all of them were discovered, before I was born and many researchers received Noble Prize for their contribution. 

Vitamin C was discovered in 1912, isolated in 1928, and in 1933, was the first vitamin to be chemically produced. 

Partly for its discovery, Albert Szent-Györgyi was awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology.

In my opinions out of the many described only a few fruits can supplement, perhaps in combination, almost all the requirements.

1. Plantains

2. Pumpkins

3. Mangoes

4. Avocados

Apples, Pears and Kiwi fruits cannot match the above fruits in their nutritional repertoire.

To this add fennel seeds and and mustard one gets all the trace minerals, zinc, manganese, magnesium and calcium and. are strikingly low in sodium. Excess sodium is bad for health.

Nutrients fall into two categories macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients.

Macro-nutrients are Fat, Starch and Proteins.