Amazoniac
Member
There can be contaminants in water or adhered to the walls of the bottle that can speed up its degradation. You might be able to holy those, but impurities in the acid itself or the salt used might be enough to degrade part of it in less than one day. Adding bicarbonates to the solution will make it alkaline and decrease stability. I think your best bet is carrying the powder with you in a vial or something.Thanks for sharing this Amazoniac. I should change my practice of dissolving my daily dose of vitamin in a water bottle and drinking the solution throughout the day. And if I should do so, I have to figure a way of acidifying it without having to add citric acid to it. Perhaps some ACV would do the job?
Would the ascorbate ion stay stable in solution when I make ascorbates of calcium, potassium, and magnesium? I suppose it wouldn't either, if I were to follow the logic as described, where ascorbate ions would easily turn into an ascorbate radical and continue on to become dehydroascorbate.
This leaves me no choice but to have to drink from a freshly made solution of ascorbic acid each time I would take ascorbic acid powder Or from a freshly made batch of ascorbate of calcium/potassium/magnesium each time I take them. This is rather inconvenient though, and not practical when I have to be on the go.
Since I'm rather sensitive to the acidic effect of ascorbic acid, I would choose the latter route of taking ascorbates as they are less acidic. I may just prepare a heterogenous mixture of calcium carbonate and water, and each time I want to take calcium ascorbate, I'd mix a preset amount of well-shaken calcium carbonate-water mixture with ascorbic acid powder, allow it to react fully, and then drink the resulting calcium ascorbate mixture. And if it's potassium ascorbate I need, I'd use potassium carbonate instead. Ditto with magnesium ascorbate and magnesium carbonate.
But that is too fussy. It makes sense then to just take capsules of ascorbates. This would be much more convenient, and I'd have to pay a little extra for the convenience.
In summary:
1. NO to drinking ascorbic acid or ascorbate solutions other than those that are freshly made
2. YES to taking capsules of ascorbic acid or ascorbate powders
From my own experience, the choice of ascorbic acid or ascorbate really depends on the person's condition. Those who get upset stomach from taking ascorbic acid should opt for the ascorbate form. But even if one could take ascorbic acid with no upset stomach, one should also consider whether ascorbic acid intake would cause his blood acidity to become relatively acidic. The way to tell is to test urine at different times during the day using urine pH test strips. If the test shows that the body has sufficient alkaline reserves such that blood/ecf pH is not adversely affected by ascorbic acid intake, then ascorbic acid can be taken. Otherwise, it would be best to take the ascorbate form.
Incidentally, I recently did 2 sets of C-Flush tests to determine my daily vitamin C requirement. One was with ascorbic acid. And the other with calcium ascorbate. I was expecting that I would be using twice the amount of ascorbic acid in calcium ascorbate (ascorbic acid + calcium carbonate = calcium ascorbate, in water solution) to achieve the same effect as straight ascorbic acid. This was because I had understood the ascorbate form to be half as effective as the pure ascorbic acid form. But I was surprised to see that the ascorbic acid used in both instances were the same. This makes me question the thinking I held all along that ascorbates are half as effective as the ascorbic acid form. Does anyone have similar experience or have references to this subject?
Water is terrible for stability, especially for a reactive molecule that now has the chance of interacting with everything around it. You can't carry the powders mixed for too long either because they'll react and form wasser, and you'll have the same problem that you're trying to avoid.
- Stability and Stabilization of Ascorbic Acid
- Stability of Ascorbic Acid in Solutions Stored in Autosampler Vials
- Degradation of Ascorbic Acid in Aqueous Solution
You'll find publications on topical use and related products that have to be concerned about stability, so they can be useful.
- Topical L‐Ascorbic Acid: Percutaneous Absorption Studies
- Ferulic Acid Stabilizes a Solution of Vitamins C and E and Doubles its Photoprotection of Skin
--
@Blossom - could you please move posts #45-186 here if there are no objections from gurus?
Last edited: