Orange Juice Vitamin C Concentration

While “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, do you know that orange juice contains almost six times more Vitamin C than apple juice? Even if you have a glass of orange juice every day, you will have your daily fix of Vitamin C. Experts are also of the opinion that constant consumption of freshly squeezed orange juice can reduce the possibility for childhood leukemia considerably.

Vitamin C also plays a crucial role in collagen production, iron absorption, formation of the red blood cells, free radical annihilation, wound healing, boosting immunity, and keeping gums and teeth healthy. To put in a nutshell, Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid, an essential micro-nutrient that is necessary to maintain good health.

Unfortunately, our body is not capable of manufacturing Vitamin C on its own and also fails to store it. Hence, it is essential for us to satisfy our body’s requirement for Vitamin C through our diet on an everyday basis. Orange juice is among the best sources for Vitamin C. It is best to make it at home by squeezing oranges in a juicer. However, for the sake of convenience, some people prefer to go for industrialized varieties.

It would be interesting for you to know that orange juice vitamin C concentration is greatly affected by many parameters, such as the level of orange ripening, source of the juice (fresh fruit, frozen concentrate, canned juices, or other forms), climatic conditions during which oranges have grown, method of processing, kind of storage container, storage and handling conditions, et cetera.

Concentration of orange juice Vitamin C also varies among the different commercial preparations. So, whenever you select orange juice, you must consider the given factors that may affect its Vitamin C content:

Being free from any preservatives, pure and unprocessed, freshly squeezed orange juice is a better option than any of the supreme varieties of commercial orange juice. Though you must note that Vitamin C is very sensitive to oxygen, light, and heat. So, exposure of orange juice to air can reduce the content of Vitamin C in any orange juice at the pace of 2% each day.
The most preferable of the commercial orange juice varieties are the frozen concentrated juices, which contains the maximum content of Vitamin C, while the least preferred ones are canned juices.

Vitamin C degradation in fruit juice can be prevented if you consume it within seven days after opening the container, or by storing it in the refrigerator. Freezing oranges will retain their Vitamin C content, while air exposure gradually erodes it.

Orange Juice Vitamin C Concentration

Comments

Categories