special feature: vitamin C identification

Today, our nutritional need for vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is well known and understood by the general public. As a dietary supplement, it is the vitamin with the largest commercial volume; some 108 kg (>US$600 million in the global market) are sold each year as tablets, a component of multivitamin products and an addition to many foods and drinks with the intention of promoting health. However, it can also be added to products simply to enhance the sales appeal. It can appear in unexpected places, such as chewing gum and sweets, personal care products and even in pet and animal feed (ascorbic acid is not considered to be a vitamin for animals other than humans). The demand for vitamin C is growing fast and new production facilities that are coming online in China are restructuring the manufacturing and supply of this product.

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Ascorbic acid interference in reagent-strip reactions for assay of urinary glucose and hemoglobin.

Clinical Chemistry ◽

10.1093/clinchem/32.4.674 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 32 (4) ◽

pp. 674-677 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

M H Zweig ◽

A Jackson

Keyword(s):

Ascorbic Acid ◽

Vitamin C ◽

Dietary Supplement ◽

Test Systems ◽

Urinary Glucose ◽

Redox Indicator ◽

Reagent Strips ◽

Indicator Systems

Abstract Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), commonly taken as a dietary supplement and excreted in the urine, can interfere with peroxidase redox indicator systems such as those used in reagent-strip tests for urinary glucose and hemoglobin. We investigated whether the concentrations of ascorbic acid in urine after modest supplementary doses of vitamin C are high enough to interfere with such dipstick tests. After adding glucose or hemoglobin to urine collected from persons not taking vitamin C and from persons taking 350 to 1000 mg of vitamin C daily, we tested four reagent strips for interference and found that these commonly taken doses did frequently interfere with all test systems examined.

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Formulation and Evaluation of a Gel-Like Ascorbic Acid Multiple Emulsions

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.465.234 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 465 ◽

pp. 234-238

Author(s):

Yun Long Yao ◽

Yi Qing Huang ◽

Jian Min Wang ◽

Qiang Xia

Keyword(s):

Ascorbic Acid ◽

Retention Rate ◽

Personal Care Products ◽

Personal Care ◽

Multiple Emulsions

Abstract: Ascorbic acid is important for human, but it will be oxidized fast when dissolved in water. However, in recent years, a major breakthrough has been achieved in the preparation of w/o/w multiple emulsions containing ascorbic acid (AA). And this study shows how to prepare and evaluate the stable gel-like multiple emulsions which can be easily used in personal care products. The concentration of ascorbic acid was analyzed by UV, and the viscosity of multiple emulsions thickened with xanthan was also appraised. The retention rate of ascorbic acid in multiple emulsions was 92.4% after 30 days preparation, and it was of significance for cosmetic use.

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Effect of preservation method and storage condition on ascorbic acid loss in beverages

Acta periodica technologica ◽

10.2298/apt0940001c ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Biljana Cvetkovic ◽

Marija Jokanovic

Keyword(s):

Ascorbic Acid ◽

Vitamin C ◽

Storage Condition ◽

Global Market ◽

Complete Loss ◽

Know How ◽

Preservation Method ◽

Maximum Benefit ◽

And Storage ◽

Made In

Global market is flooded with vitamin-enriched foods, mainly beverages. Major vitamins for enriching beverages are the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E. Ascorbic acid is readily oxidized and lost during storage of the beverages, at rates depending on the conditions of storage. This fact is of great importance for the consumer who must know how to store beverages and when to consume them in order to get the maximum benefit of added vitamin C. The objective of this paper was to determine the amount of ascorbic acid lost in beverages applying different preservation methods and storage condition. Beverage was made in laboratory conditions with synthetic L-ascorbic acid added according to the national legislations. After 30 days of storage at 4-8oC ascorbic acid overall loss was from 81.01% to 90.27% in thermally pasteurized samples and from 97.83 % to almost complete loss in samples preserved with sodium benzoate.

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Evaluation of the general public’s knowledge on ingredients in personal care products

BCIT Environmental Public Health Journal ◽

10.47339/ephj.2016.105 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Jessica (So Hyun) Ahn ◽

BCIT School of Health Sciences, Environmental Health ◽

Helen Heacock

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Human Health ◽

Test Scores ◽

General Public ◽

Test Score ◽

Personal Care Products ◽

Knowledge Assessment ◽

Personal Care ◽

The Public ◽

The Mean

Objectives: The average person living in North America is exposed to hundreds of chemical ingredients, including those that are harmful to human health, through application of personal care products. The manufacture of personal care products is largely untested and unregulated at a government level; legislation is not as prescriptive as the public would expect it to be. This shifts the responsibility to consumers to use their own discretion when purchasing personal care products. The purpose of this research was to assess the knowledge of the Canadian general public regarding ingredients in personal care products to determine if they have enough knowledge to avoid harmful substances. Methods: A knowledge assessment survey was conducted to two different groups in Canada. The first group consisted of the general public who did not have a background in toxicology or dermatology, and the second group consisted of Public Health Inspectors in Lower Mainland B.C. The test scores from the knowledge assessment were compared between the two groups to determine if there was a significant difference in the means. Results: The survey was completed by 39 Public Health Inspectors and 91 members of the general public. The mean score was 3.0256 for the Public Health Inspectors and 1.846 for the general public; the test score was out of 10. Statistical analyses showed that the mean test scores were significantly different and the null hypothesis (Ho: mean test score of the Public Health Inspectors = mean test score of the general public) was rejected at α= 0.05. Conclusion: The result showed that both groups had low level of knowledge regarding the ingredients in personal care products that are widely used in Canada. Even the chemical ingredients that are known or suspected to be dangerous to human health or have adverse effects on the environment were not recognized. Exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals can be prevented or reduced by setting a legal requirement of a maximum concentration, imposing marketing restrictions or requiring better labelling of hazardous ingredients to improve public awareness of potential risk.

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