Vitamin C

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Introduction

What is Vitamin C?

Vitamin C also known as Ascorbic acid is one of the compounds that is necessary for the growth, health, and build of the skeletal structure as well as the general make-up of the human body (1). If the intake of Vitamin C increases it then the benefits to the individual might increase as well.

Procedure

In this lab indophenol blue, a deep blue stain, was used to measure the quantity of vitamin C in a food. There was a known standard which we compared unknown factors against. We titrated known quantities of vitamin C measuring in drops the amount it took to turn the indophenol clear. The number was then converted to a percentage concentration.

Where is vitamin C found?

Vitamin C is found in many foods including citrus fruits, green vegetables, tomatoes and potatoes. It is best to consume them fresh because food processing may destroy some of the vitamins.

For example, exposure to air, drying, salting, cooking, mincing or mashing may reduce the amount of vitamin C in a food (2).

The unknown amounts of vitamin C concentration in our foods apply to the processing factors described . The foods are freshly squeezed orange juice, packaged Tropicana orange juice and Spinach. We will titrate three times the amount of the unknowns into 25 drops of indophenol. We will then graph those results.

Results

Using the original graph from the knows the number of drops were recorded and converted into a concentration gradient. This gradient ended up being very close to the original gradient of the knowns.

Discussions

Why is vitamin C important?

A diet containing high intakes of vitamin C may lower the risk of getting a heart attack or stroke. Studies associate high levels of high density...