Fruit better than vitamin C

[Menydh]

Fruit proves better than vitamin C alone

Nature
April 20, 2007

Tests show that it isn't just the vitamin that protects the body.

If you're after an antioxidant, try oranges

If you're in the market for an antioxidant to keep your body young and healthy, new research suggests you'd be much better off with oranges than vitamin C tablets.

Although vitamin C is best known for its protection against scurvy and, possibly, the common cold (see 'Vitamin C best in the cold'), fruits rich in vitamin C are also powerful antioxidants that protect cellular DNA from being damaged by oxidation. Going without such foods leads to DNA damage long before the iconic bleeding gums of scurvy are seen.

But do vitamin C pills on their own have the same protective effect as fruit? Serena Guarnieri and a team of researchers in the Division of Human Nutrition at the University of Milan, Italy, designed a simple experiment to find out.

The team gave test subjects a single glass of blood-orange juice, vitamin-C-fortified water, or sugar water to drink. The blood-orange juice and the fortified water had 150 milligrams of vitamin C each, whereas the sugar water had none. Blood samples were taken from the test subjects 3 hours and 24 hours after their drink. Unsurprisingly, blood plasma vitamin C levels went up after drinking both the juice and the fortified water.

The blood samples were then exposed to hydrogen peroxide, a substance known to cause DNA damage through oxidation. The damage was significantly less in the samples taken from volunteers who had ingested orange juice, in both the samples collected 3 hours after consumption and 24 hours after the drink. Unsurprisingly, the sugar water had no protective effect. But neither did the vitamin-C-fortified water.

At least one other study, which looked at larger quantities of vitamin C, has shown a protective effect from the vitamin alone. But the fact that it doesn't show up here indicates that something more complicated is going on, says Guarnieri. "It appears that vitamin C is not the only chemical responsible for antioxidant protection; there is something more at work here," she says. The find is reported in the British Journal of Nutrition¹.

"It is an important observation," says David Heber, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles. It suggests that people studying the effects of the vitamin should be careful to note where in the diet it comes from. "Vitamin C is provided in a matrix in fruits with many other beneficial substances," he says; and all of these may interact with each other.

Other nutrition researchers have suggested that sugars in juice interact with vitamin C to generate the antioxidant effect². But Guarnieri suspects that the phytochemicals found in oranges (cyanidin-3-glucoside, flavanones and carotenoids) are the substances that need further study. "But how they are interacting is still anyone's guess," she adds.

[1]Guarnieri S., Riso P. & Porrini M.Brit. J. Nutr., 97. 639 - 643 (2007).
[2]Lotito S. B. & Frei B. Free Rad. Biol. Med., 37. 251 - 258 (2004).


[source]

[Lucas Corso]

This is logical: orange juice contains other antioxydants apart from vitamin C, like flavonoids (that belong to the family of polyphenols, the same of the red wine)...
Just an advice: drink immediatley the orange juice after you've prepared, in half an hour nearly all the vitamin C is oxydized by the combined effect of oxygen and sun light...

[swordjumper]

The vitamin C content of oranges is reduced by transportation and cold storage , if you live in Britain, relying on oranges for your vitamin C alone is not a good idea . If you're fortunate enough to live in warmer climes where oranges are grown , you'll probably get your full quota of the vitamin.

[Menydh]

In Spain, the storage in cold of the citrics is done under strict control (in terms of time and temperature) to avoid these losses. This document (in Spanish) gives a good idea about general suggested practices:

http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/...2/cuf0127s.pdf

However, those there are limits which are rarely reached. For example, a maximum of 2-3 month storage for the lane-late variety. Most likely it doesn't reach even 1 month.

Trade is usually done fast these days and often the orange already has a bidder for when it's being picked up. This, however, reverts when there is excess offer in the market and exporters stop shipping their stocks to wait for a recovery of prices in the market. This is provoked by the dumping of lower quality but cheaper price citrics from countries like Morocco, Turkey or, in the last years, Egypt.

In any case, the logical loss of quality and properties from the tree to the final consumer is not as big as to make tablets any good in front of the fresh fruits. I.e., under strict quality controls. The bigger losses come in the quantity of actual juice per orange. The navel varieties (navelina, navel late, lane late) are appreciated in this respect too for their quantity of juice.

Different legislations and more agile trade practices could allow for the oranges to even reach the final consumer without going through cold storage. This is particularly true with those oranges grown in higher areas, as their skin grows thicker, enough to allow them to be preserved in perfect conditions for a long time. But then this would also reflect in prices.

[Susi]

Mynydd, I want oranges now!

But the last one I bought was too sour again..

But yes, the real thing is way better than synthetic one.

Did you know that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) plus sodium benzoate (preservative) can cause a reaction that makes benzene.. which is incredibly poisonous. I assume there are some preservatives or something in the vitamin pill, perhaps of the benzoate family..

Which means, woot, benzene poisoning for everyone, that takes up to 30 years to become apparent! WOO!

[Erasmus]

Susi, you need orange and a glass of red wine everyday, so we'll have a strong and healthy Susi Seriously

[Susi]

I'm not uber fond of wine, actually..

But I <3 oranges.

I guess I can take some wine from the cellar, my parents are away in Portugal.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Susi

Mynydd, I want oranges now!

But the last one I bought was too sour again..

This happens when the traders pick up the oranges before they have reached the right level of matureness because there is high demand in the market.

The citric does not lose its antioxidant or hemostatic properties (or nutritive for that matter), but it does have an effect in the organoleptic characteristics. For one thing, the sugar has not yet fully metabolized as it needs exposure to certain cold temperatures to do so, while steel in the tree.

Unfortunately, the preferences in the demand are set by the interestes of the market traders, instead of by the final consumer. Thus, the markets value external presentation over real quality. A change of directions in the trends here would even reduce dramatically the chemicals used during its growing phases. Most of the times, these are only used against plagues which only affect the skin, producing small but still visible stains on them, like the Californian red lice.

But yes, the real thing is way better than synthetic one.

Did you know that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) plus sodium benzoate (preservative) can cause a reaction that makes benzene.. which is incredibly poisonous. I assume there are some preservatives or something in the vitamin pill, perhaps of the benzoate family..

Which means, woot, benzene poisoning for everyone, that takes up to 30 years to become apparent! WOO!

The chemical products used in some countries are much restricted by legislation, and controls are effected. This makes the costs for the producer much higher, as the safe products are much more expensive.

The problem comes when the market is opened to (in the case of the EU) third countries like Morocco, Egypt or Turkey, where such practices are not followed. Their production is of lower quality and it has these risks, but it is much cheaper because not only the reduced costs in production for cheaper labour but also for the use of uncontrolled and cheaper chemicals.

An ongoing project with citrics in this area is the obtention of bioethanol from citrics. A fuel produced with 85% of ethanol and 15% of petrol would reduce pollution by 80%, without losses of power in the vehicles.

[Lucas Corso]

Originally Posted by Susi

Mynydd, I want oranges now!

But the last one I bought was too sour again..

But yes, the real thing is way better than synthetic one.

Did you know that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) plus sodium benzoate (preservative) can cause a reaction that makes benzene.. which is incredibly poisonous. I assume there are some preservatives or something in the vitamin pill, perhaps of the benzoate family..

Which means, woot, benzene poisoning for everyone, that takes up to 30 years to become apparent! WOO!

Here there's some scientific data:
http://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/245/indica...d_in_foods.pdf

Anyone can ask me for more informations...

[swordjumper]

The sad truth is that today's food is not what it used to be . Fruit and vegetables are only as good as the soil in which they are grown . Minerals pass from the soil to the plant , and in turn help the plant to grow and produce vitamins . The trouble is that modern farming , which relies heavily on artificial fertilisers and pesticides , robs the soil of nutrients and does not replace them.Phosphates found in fertilisers and pesticides bind to the minerals in the soil , making them less available to the plant . Through overfarming , the soil becomes nutrient deficient anyway . However , adding fertiliser ( nitrogen , phosphate and potassium ) enables plants to keep on growing , but without the full complement of minerals . So the plant does not make its full complement of vitamins and we too end up deficient .
For these reasons , plus the length of time we store foods , there is a staggering range of nutrient content in fruit and vegetables . An orange may provide from 180mg of vitamin C to none at all , the average being around 60mg !

[Lucas Corso]

Originally Posted by swordjumper

The sad truth is that today's food is not what it used to be . Fruit and vegetables are only as good as the soil in which they are grown . Minerals pass from the soil to the plant , and in turn help the plant to grow and produce vitamins . The trouble is that modern farming , which relies heavily on artificial fertilisers and pesticides , robs the soil of nutrients and does not replace them.Phosphates found in fertilisers and pesticides bind to the minerals in the soil , making them less available to the plant . Through overfarming , the soil becomes nutrient deficient anyway . However , adding fertiliser ( nitrogen , phosphate and potassium ) enables plants to keep on growing , but without the full complement of minerals . So the plant does not make its full complement of vitamins and we too end up deficient .
For these reasons , plus the length of time we store foods , there is a staggering range of nutrient content in fruit and vegetables . An orange may provide from 180mg of vitamin C to none at all , the average being around 60mg !

And moreover artificial fertilizers kills the natural bacteria of the soil, a soil fertilized with artificial fertilizers for years is steril and needs years and years to recover...

[Susi]

Cow poo ftw!

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

Orange is better than lemon, I always knew it, now I got the confirmation of it.

But it must be good oranges....

[Susi]

Maybe we will all have to raid Mynydd's city for oranges!

[Erasmus]

Valencian oranges:

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

Originally Posted by Susi

Maybe we will all have to raid Mynydd's city for oranges!

We have to raid Mynydd's city for paella first and then for oranges!