I would like to buy vitamin C from LAMBERTS®, but I do not see clear whether it is ascorbic acid or pure vitamin C, because I have been advised not to buy ascorbic acid because it is not exactly vitamin C.
R/ Ascorbic acid is the most common form of vitamin C found in nutritional supplements and is also the form found in foods. Therefore, it is not true that ascorbic acid is not pure vitamin C as you have been informed.
On the other hand, vitamin C can be obtained naturally and synthetically. The natural sources are levorotatory ascorbic acid (L-isomer) and levorotatory sodium ascorbate, present in different foods. Most of the production of vitamin C used to be synthetic; however, today most of the world production is obtained via fermentation with microorganisms that constitutes a natural form of production.
Synthetic ascorbic acid produced from corn is increasingly disused, however, even though Lamberts obtains its vitamin C from natural sources, the affirmation maintained in certain media, that synthetic vitamin C has less bioavailability and activates than a natural vitamin C, totally and absolutely lacking clinical evidence that can sustain it.
There are other chemical forms of vitamin C that are called mineral ascorbates. In this type of vitamin C, minerals are combined with ascorbic acid, resulting in less acidic mineral salts of ascorbic acid. Their pH is 5 to 7. Therefore, in theory they are less irritating to the gastric mucosa than ascorbic acid, however, there does not appear to be conclusive clinical evidence that this is so. Calcium ascorbate, sodium ascorbate, potassium ascorbate and magnesium are the most common forms.
What some studies have shown is that ascorbic acid combined with citrus bioflavonoids is more bioavailable than the synthetic form of ascorbic acid alone (Marti, Mena et al., 2009). Indeed, in nature, vitamin C is present together with other substances, which help increase its absorption and bioavailability.
On the other hand, the rose hip is one of the plant sources richest in vitamin C, since approximately 7% of its weight corresponds to the vitamin.
The most popular formulations of Lamberts, following these strict clinical parameters, are those that combine ascorbic acid of vegetable origin with citrus bioflavonoids and rosehips. These formulations are usually of time release to avoid any possibility of acidification in the organism.
However, we also have vitamin C in the form of calcium ascorbate in other formulations, to satisfy users who prefer the administration of this form of vitamin C or require ingesting large doses of it by indication of a health professional.
