Vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is one of the most vital vitamins found in citrus juices, including juice. First Significant. The body only soaks up 5% of vitamins from tablets or pills the rest is sent down the toilet. Discover how you can absorb 98%. Glance at the bottom of this page.

Testing for vitamin C levels in different forms of orange is also a favorite science project for many scholars. Thanks to the limited available references on vitamin C levels in citrus juices and how it degrades over time , this web site will try to provide some info on the topic to help students find additional references for their science projects.

Vitamin C. Regularly projects find that orange juices made of frozen concentrated orange ( FCOJ ) have the highest vitamin C levels in comparison to freshly squeezed or not-from-concentrate ( NFC ) juices. This is because of the fact that vitamin C degrades over time in fresh and NFC, but does not degrade as much in FCOJ due to it being frozen until reconstitution. If you're comparing a NFC product which has been stored for roughly three weeks vs a newly reconstituted FCOJ, the FCOJ would surely have a higher vitamin C concentration.

Also one more thing to consider is if the FCOJ is reconstituted to the same strength as fresh or NFC. If one doesn't add enough water, then the vitamin C ( and other compounds ) would be more concentrated. Another thing to be considered is that the vitamin C content changes thru the crop season and orange variety also plays a part. Since most FCOJ is blended to a larger extent than some NFCs, it is wholly possible that the NFC is produced from a variety / season which has lower vitamin C content.

According to Nagy and Smoot, temperature and storage time affects the percent of vitamin C content of orange fruits and orange juice. Alternative types of oranges also have different levels of vitamin C. The mid-season variety, Pineapple Orange had the highest levels, followed by the key early-season variety, Hamlin Orange. The late-season Valencia Orange had the lowest vitamin C content. In addition, it was discovered that the longer the Valencia Orange fruit stayed on the tree, the lower the vitamin C level. ( Additional details on these orange kinds can be found from links in

The story of Florida Juice - from the Grove to Your Glass. ) Nagy and Smoot also found that in orange juice containers, vitamin C loss was due to oxidation by a residual air layer surrounded within the container during processing. The loss was faster in the first two weeks and was more clear at higher storage temperatures. orange must be kept cool to prevent vitamin C degradation as it is sped up at high storage temperatures. .