Analysis of total vitamin C, ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid in red fruits and green leafy vegetables by HPLC-PDA

Salgado, N.; Silva, M.A.; Costa, H.S.; Figueira, M.E.; Albuquerque, T.G.

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/8762

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Abstract(s)

Ascorbic acid (AA), also known as vitamin C, is an essential micronutrient due to its role in human development and wellbeing since it has antioxidant properties and is involved in the production of proteins like collagen. [1] It has been associated with several health benefits: reduced risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease, different types of cancer, and respiratory and neurological issues. [2] Despite being mainly found in citrus species, AA also exists in other fruits and vegetables. This study aimed to assess the variability of vitamin C content in red fruits (strawberry, raspberry and blueberry) and green leafy vegetables (spinach and lettuce) from different brands and supermarkets, measuring total vitamin C, by high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (HPLC-PDA), an extremely sensitive and validated method. According to our results, brand B of strawberry was the richest in total vitamin C (51.3 mg/100 g) with 45 mg/100 g of AA and 6.27 mg/100 g of DHA, followed by brand A of raspberry (44.7 mg/100 g), being the majority AA. On the contrary, all brands of blueberry did not contain any form of vitamin C and brand B of lettuce had 5.01 mg/100 g of total vitamin C, reporting the lowest detectable value. Within the different brands, total vitamin C ranged between 37.4-51.3, 20.8-44.7, 5.01-5.13 and 10.1-12.4 mg/100 g for strawberry, raspberry, lettuce and spinach, respectively. Thus, red berries seem to have higher quantity of vitamin C than green leafy vegetables, except for blueberry. Differences between the same food of distinct brands can be justified due to cultivation practices, ripeness, environmental and soil conditions, as well as storage conditions since vitamin C is sensitive to heat, light, and oxygen. Furthermore, consulting Regulation Nº 1169/2011, which indicates 80 mg of vitamin C as daily reference dose for adults, consuming 1 portion (160 g) of brand B of strawberry will make you achieve 103% of the recommendation. References: [1] Santos, K et al. (2022) Essential features for antioxidant capacity of ascorbic acid (vitamin C). J Mol Model., 28, 1-8; [2] Xu, K et al. (2022) Vitamin C intake and multiple health outcomes: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Int J Food Sci Nutr., 73, 588-599.