Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics

Numerous methods for the detection and estimation of Vitamin C are available, but only those simple tests suitable for immediate use in the doctor’s surgery, in a clinic or to test foods at home or where they are prepared will be described.

1. The Dip Stick is perhaps the simplest. Ames C-Stix are available from any chemist shop. The slip of medicated paper is dipped into a specimen of urine and after 30 seconds the color compared with a chart that shows the comparative concentration in the urine. To obtain a true estimation it is important that the specimen be tested as early as possible, as Vitamin C in urine is quickly oxidized and destroyed on exposure to air. Dr Glen Dettman of Oakleigh Laboratories, Mentone, Victoria, who has tested routinely over 6000 urine specimens in the last 3 years has found that if a random urine speci­men does not exceed the top color marker (40 mg%) there is either insufficient ascorbic acid in the body or the kidneys are not working well. Ames C-Stix can also be used to detect Vitamin C in foods and other fluids.

2. Mercks Pharmaceutical firm also make a similar dip stick, but this is not suitable for screening urine (so says their brochure), but rather for estimating C in food products, such as orange cordial and mixed dishes.

3. Lingual or tongue tests are used by Professors Cheraskin and Ringsdorf in their laboratories at the University of Alabama, and by Dr Archie Kalokorinos at the Redfern Clinic in Sydney. The test is simple and quick.

The tongue is cleaned and wiped dry and a small piece of paper infiltrated with a special indicator (Tillmans) is pressed against the tongue. The time taken in seconds for the blue color of the reagent to disappear after it touches the tongue indicates the ascorbic acid level in the body.

Optimum values — less than 20 seconds show normal Vitamin C status. Longer than 20 seconds indicates poor tissue ascorbic acid level. Each dye vial is sufficient for 70 individual tests and lasts 4 days after the solution is made.

A complete ascorbic acid testing kit can be obtained by writing to —

Medical Diagnostic Services Inc., P.O. Box 144,

BRANDON, FLORIDA. U.S.A. 33511.

Hospital wards might therefore not only test the urine of their patients if desired, but also Vitamin C intake includ­ing fluids such as synthetic orange juice, tomato juice and carrot juice. Infants Vitamin C ‘supplement’ may be readily oxidized if left for any time in our drinking water.

The following is a list of average values of Vitamin C in various foods tested with Ames C-Stix quoted by Drs Glen Dettman and Archie Kalokerinos in their paper to a Wollongong Conference of AIMT and ACBS April,

Values of Food estimated with C-Stix. (All in mg%) Where necessary juice was expressed from food to obtain results.

1973.

Typical Average Values (After Sebell/Harris)

Apples (temperature controlled)

Apple (old season, stored)

Apple (new season)

Canteloupe

Carrot (stored)

Cucumber

Cabbage

Celery

Green Peppers Grapes (small variety)
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Vitamin C is the most easily destroyed of all the vitamins and unless the foods which contain it are handled and prepared with care a great deal can be lost before it reaches our table.

In pure form ascorbic acid consists of white crystals, very soluble in water, but not in fats or oils. It is stable when kept dry and cool or in an acid solution, but quickly de­stroyed in alkaline solutions such as when baking soda is added to the water when cooking green vegetables.

Ascorbic acid is destroyed by exposure to oxygen in the air for any length of time and heat hastens this process.

Plants — fruits, vegetables and salads are our chief source of Vitamin C, but much is lost by keeping, drying, by crushing and in cooking.

Plant cells themselves when broken by crushing or cutting with a blunt knife release an enzyme, oxidize, which destroys their vitamin content. Fresh vegetables and fruits should not be squashed and bruised in transport and should be cut up and prepared with a sharp knife just before use. Many are better not peeled at all.

Beans, lettuce and cabbage shredded and stored in the refrigerator the day before use or soaked in water may still look crisp, but have already lost much of their Vitamin G value.

It is best to grow your own vegetables and use them fresh from the garden. When this is not possible choose those that are fresh, use as soon as possible and store in air tight containers in the refrigerator until used.

, Salads should be freshly prepared. Fruits peeled and eaten at once at the table.

Vegetables should be cooked in boiling water—not too much — and boiled fast for as short a time as possible with the saucepan lid on, to exclude the oxygen-rich air. The vegetable water should be kept and used in soups and gravies as it contains some Vitamin C, but is also rich in potassium and trace minerals as well.

Food kept hot in the oven for the late-comer loses most of its Vitamin C, and leftovers used next day cannot be relied on to contain any of this vitamin. 25 per cent is lost after 15 minutes keeping — 75 per cent after IV2 hours.

This is why most restaurant foods, take-away foods and meals served in institutions have been found to contain practically no Vitamin C by the time it is actually eaten.

As many fruits and vegetables cannot be obtained fresh but must be transported and stored far long periods — various methods of preserving them have been used — drying, canning and freezing are the main methods.

Until recently drying of fruits and vegetables resulted in a great loss of Vitamin C. Now the quick exclusion of air in airtight packs prevents the formation of destructive oxidize, and the addition of sulphite to preserve color and flavor actually favors the retention of Vitamin C. It is now possible to produce dried vegetables which still have 60-80 per cent of their original vitamin before cooking.

Modern methods of canning, with selection of top quality products, quick blanching and or freezing prevent oxida­tion taking place and most of the Vitamin C is retained. The cans are filled to the top before sealing so that air is excluded, and they are heated in a vacuum.

It is claimed that there is less loss of Vitamin C in canned fruits and vegetables than when the housewife buys vegetables that have been transported to the shop, exposed for sale, then taken home, stored, prepared and cooked for the home meal.

As frozen fruits and vegetables are originally top quality and are quickly blanched and frozen no destructive oxidize is formed and most of their Vitamin C is retained. Quick freezing conserves Vitamin C better than any other method.

Frozen foods, should, of course, be stored at freezing point, used at once after defrosting or vegetables thrown directly into boiling water and not defrosted before cook­ing.

Some fruits and vegetables retain their Vitamin C bet­ter than others as their skin prevents contact with the air. Potatoes, pumpkin and onions, although not especially rich in Vitamin C, are valuable for those who cannot obtain fresh fruits and vegetables rich in C, such as in the dry outback of Australia and on long sea voyages, as they do retain their vitamin for long periods.

Lemons can be smeared with vaseline and stored in dry sand to preserve their Vitamin C content.

However, as ascorbic acid itself is now available and inexpensive, it is not so necessary as it used to be to rely on these storage methods to preserve the natural vitamins and prevent scurvy.
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