Vitamin C, in context.

Vitamin C is the nutrient most people name first. This page sets out what may lawfully be said about it, where it comes from, and where it sits in a daily formula.

Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin. The body cannot make it and stores little of it, so it has to come from food every day. It is one of the most studied nutrients in human nutrition, and what may be said about it in the UK is set out in the authorised list that every food business must follow.

This page explains what vitamin C does in the body, where it comes from in food, and how it sits within the Immufix formula.

What Vitamin C does in the body.

Vitamin C contributes to the normal function of the immune system, to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, and to normal collagen formation.

The authorised wording for vitamin C covers several normal functions. Vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin, blood vessels, bones, cartilage, gums and teeth. It contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism and to the normal functioning of the nervous system. It contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress, to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, and it increases iron absorption from food.

Each of these is the wording the regulation allows. Nothing on this page goes beyond that list, and every claim is credited to the nutrient rather than to the product.

How much counts as a source.

The Nutrient Reference Value for vitamin C on UK labels is 80 mg a day. A food counts as a source of vitamin C at 15 % of that per 100 g (12 mg) and as high in vitamin C at 30 % (24 mg); drinks use half those percentages per 100 ml. Those are the thresholds every food page here applies, and the only basis on which a food page says “source of” or “high in”.

Foods with the most vitamin C, per 100 g.

Per 100 g, these are the foods in the database with the most vitamin C. Dishes and recipes are left out so the list shows single foods.

Where Vitamin C comes from in food.

cherries (1720 mg), gourd (295 mg), guava (230 mg), capsicum peppers (225 mg), cashew fruit (220 mg), blackcurrants (200 mg), parsley (190 mg), spring greens (180 mg)

Vitamin C in the Immufix formula.

Vitamin C is part of the micronutrient core of the formula. It sits alongside the other vitamins and minerals, fibre, amino acids and supporting carbohydrate in one measured 25g serving, rather than being taken as an isolated tablet.

The declared amount per serving is on the label and on The Science page, together with the share of the Nutrient Reference Value it provides.

Questions people ask.

Where the numbers come from.

Food figures from the UK Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID, 2021), per 100 g; reference values from Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 Annex XIII as retained in GB law; claim wording from Wording already published on the site's Science page. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. All foods A to Z.