Do You Think Ascorbic Acid is Natural?

Posted on by Mischelle Sandowich

sugar-1514247_1280Ascorbic Acid.

Vitamin C is probably the most common and sought after vitamin on the market. And for good reason. Vitamin C is foundational for many functions of the human body. It builds collagen and therefore supports healthy skin and tissue throughout the body, including bones and blood vessels. It is also a powerful antioxidant that fights free radicals, combats cancer, and helps with graceful aging.

One way to get your vitamin C is through ascorbic acid. One small teaspoon of ascorbic acid contains 5000 mg of vitamin C — that is 8333% of the recommended daily allowance.

Safe and/or Natural?

But is it safe?

We will explore the answer to that question in the next post in this series. Today, we will just ask the question: is it natural?

And I am not going to give you the answer. Rather, I will let you decide.

I will be sharing about a specific product that claims that their ascorbic acid (aka vitamin C) product has these features:

  • 100% pure
  • 100% natural
  • pharmaceutic grace
  • works naturally
  • hypo-allergenic
  • non-GMO
  • contains no fillers, lubricants, binders, starch, wheat, soy, milk, egg, yeast, rose hips, animal products, colorings, flavorings, or preservatives

This product is made by the company NutriBiotic. And on an old container of Ascorbic Acid from NutriBiotic, they generously shared their 15-step natural process to make this pure, pharmaceutical grade Ascorbic Acid.  And I have such a bottle in my possession. Here is their process [1]:

  • Step one begins with converting vegetable starch to sugar. Unfortunately, they do not let us know the source of the starch (save vegetables). The starch is broken down into the simple sugar d-glucose using heat and enzymes. Again, they do not let us know what kind of enzymes are being used. This process is called starch hydrolysis.
  • Steps two through nine repeat the first step, more starch hydrolysis by use of heat and enzymes.
  • Step 10 converts the d-glucose into d-sorbitol through hydrogenation.
  • Step 11 converts the d-sorbitol into l-sorbose through fermentation.
  • Step 12 combines the l-sorbose with an unnamed acid at low temperatures. This process is called acetonation. I wonder if the acid is acetone?
  • Step 13 takes the product of step 12 and oxidizes it with an unnamed catalyst, acidifies it, washes it, and then dries it. This oxidation process forms l-gluconic acid.
  • Step 14 treats the l-gluconic acid with hydrochloric acid, “forming crude ascorbic acid.” This process is called hydrolysis.
  • Step 15 filters the crude ascorbic acid and crushes it to a crystalline power.

And voila — you have pharmaceutical grade vitamin C.

It sounds like a fascinating science experiment. Truly, NutriBiotic has been able to find a way to alter the food (vegetables) that God has created to be received with thanksgiving and to isolate and manipulate it into vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) by using “natural” processes.

But the question remains:

Is it natural?

You decide.

On 08/31/16 we will talk about the safety factors to consider when consuming isolated nutrients such as ascorbic acid and vitamin C.

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[1] I am not trying to disparage NutriBiotic. I use their products. I even use their Ascorbic Acid on occasion. (And I especially recommend their GSE. Read how I used it to get rid of my toenail fungus.) My purpose in this post is to get a grasp around what is natural in light of God’s design for the world.

Whole Food Supplements


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Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.


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