Vitamin C in fruit juice and health benefits

Vitamin C is defined as hexuronic acid, cevitamin acid or xiloascorbic acid. The term vitamin C is commonly used to describe all these compounds even though the representative of which is ascorbic acid.

Citrus fruits provide about 51% of vitamin C and also large quantities of some carotenoids: 68% for β-cryptoxanthin and 43% for zeaxanthin.

Many factors influence the vitamin C content of citrus fruits such as lemon. Decadence of ascorbic acid earnings both aerobic and anaerobic pathways and appertain to many factors such as oxygen, heat, light, storage temperature and storage time.

During juice processing, temperature and oxygen are the main factors responsible for vitamin C losses. Non-thermal processed juices retain higher levels of vitamin C.

Regarding packing material, vitamin C in fruit juice is quite stable when stored in metal or glass containers, whereas juice stored in plastic bottles has a much shorter shelf-life.

This water soluble vitamin contributes to many health benefits such as prevention of scurvy and cancer, relief from common cold, stimulate collagen synthesis and play a significant role in wound healing process. Deficiency of this vitamin in the body causes many diseases such as scurvy.
Vitamin C in fruit juice and health benefits

Drying process affects vitamin in food

The vitamin content of a food is, in general, reduced by drying. This is especially true for those vitamins (e.g. vitamin A and ascorbic acid) that are easily destroyed by heat in the presence of air, through oxidation.

The drying temperature has been shown to have no influence on vitamins B1, B2, B6 and niacin, whereas vitamin A losses increase with increasing drying temperatures. β-carotene which may be applied as the source of the vitamin A is shown to be far more stable than the straight vitamin.

Drying methods affect vitamin C content as well. It can be stated that the higher the drying temperature and air velocity, the greater the degradation of vitamin C durign drying.

However the application of a drying process with low temperatures for a short period of time can result in relatively high ascorbic acid retention, avoiding its sensitivity to heating processes. The sulfuring of fruit previous to drying also aids in reducing the amount of ascorbic acid destroyed during drying.
Drying process affects vitamin in food