01/14/2005

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Chow Line: Lots of foods good for vitamin C content

Writer:

Martha Filipic
filipic.3@osu.edu
(614) 292-9833

Source:

Sharron Coplin, Human Nutrition

Do oranges have the most vitamin C of any food?

Serving for serving, a few other foods top the list for vitamin C content. But before we go there, I feel compelled to address the nature of your question first.

Food consumption shouldn't be about an "all or nothing" mentality, and that's the feeling I get with your question. Dietitians tend to get nervous when clients focus too much on one food, even if it's a healthful food. Healthful foods come in all shapes and sizes, and enjoying a wide variety is standard nutrition advice. "Everything in moderation" is a key element in making wise food choices.

That said, it's great that you're interested in making sure you get enough vitamin C. Vitamin C is important in healing cuts and wounds and keeps your gums healthy. It's also water-soluble, and so any extra you consume over the course of a day easily gets flushed out of the system. So, replenishing your body with some vitamin C on a daily basis is a good idea.

The recommended intake for vitamin C is 90 milligrams a day for men and 75 for women. A half-cup of orange sections (the official serving size you see on the Food Guide Pyramid) gives you about 48 milligrams of vitamin C. However, if you eat a large (slightly over 3-inch diameter) orange, you're consuming about two official servings, and you get about 98 milligrams of vitamin C in one fell swoop. So, honestly, oranges aren't a bad choice at all for getting vitamin C.

However, sweet, raw red peppers has even more vitamin C: 142 milligrams per half-cup serving. And a half-cup of frozen, sliced, sweetened peaches has 118 milligrams. One serving (three-quarters cup) of orange juice from a fresh orange has 93 milligrams, while the same amount of orange juice from unsweetened frozen concentrate has 73 milligrams. Other juices are also good choices, including canned pineapple and grapefruit juice drink, grapefruit juice, cranberry juice cocktail, or just about any fruit juice with added vitamin C.

In addition, a half-cup of raw green peppers has about 60 milligrams of vitamin C, a half-cup of sliced strawberries has 53 milligrams, and a half-cup of cooked broccoli has about 51 milligrams.

One thing to note: If you use the Nutrition Facts label to track your vitamin C intake, you should know that the percentages listed are based on older (1968) guidelines for vitamin C, when the recommended daily amount was 60 milligrams. So, if you consume a food that claims it has "50 percent" of the Daily Value for vitamin C, that means the food contains 30 milligrams of vitamin C, not 45.

Chow Line is a service of Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. Send questions to Chow Line, c/o Martha Filipic, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1044, or filipic.3@osu.edu.

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Editor: This column was reviewed by Sharron Coplin, registered dietitian and Ohio State University Extension nutrition associate in the College of Human Ecology.