Vitamin C Amount Estimation By DCPIP Essays - Biomolecules, Vitamins

Vitamin C Amount Estimation By DCPIP Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a very important vitamin to the body. Vitamin C promotes healthy teeth and gums, helps absorption of iron, aids in maintenance of normal connective tissue, promotes wound healing, and helps boost the immune system. With vitamin C being such a useful substance to our bodies, finding good sources of vitamin C is important. Many people today rely on vitamin supplement tablets. But fruit juices, vitamin-supplemented drinks, or vitamin supplemented foods may contain just as much vitamin C as a supplement tablet. Which one is better though, commercially sold drinks or fresh fruit juices? This was the research question: Are commercially sold and popularly consumed juices (in Japan) a good substitute fro fresh fruits in terms of dietary vitamin C? What this experiment sought to find out was exactly what kind of drink was better in terms of dietary vitamin C. The juices were titrated into a set amount of DCPIP and measuring how many millilitres it took for the DCPIP to turn from blue to clear. The hypothesis was that fresh fruit juices should contain more vitamin C since they had not been heat treated and probably had spent less time on a shelf or being transported than commercially sod drinks. This is important since vitamin C is heat labile. This means that vitamin C is susceptible to change and unstable or that the vitamin C can break down easily if exposed to high temperatures or is kept for a long time on a shelf. The experiment and results showed that vitamin C is more abundant in fresh fruit juices. This was true for all the juices tested except for lemon. Therefore, it is safe to say that fresh fruit juices tend to contain more vitamin C than commercially bought juices. Introduction The body needs a good balance of foods, which must contain carbohydrates, proteins, and fats along with mineral salts, water, fibre, and vitamins. All of these are required in different amounts according to different people. However, there are recommended daily allowances. For example, the recommended daily allowance for vitamin C is 60mg. Vitamins are easily absorbed into the bloodstream from the gut. A diet lacking in any particular vitamin will lead to a deficiency disease. Such diseases are rickets that is caused by lack of vitamin D, and night blindness that is caused by lack of vitamin A. However, these can be remedied by using vitamin supplements if the dietary intake is inadequate. The aim of the experiment was to see the difference of vitamin C content between fresh fruit juices and commercially sold and popularly consumed juices (in Japan) a good substitute for fresh fruits in terms of dietary vitamin C? This research question was established because in the modern day and age people are too busy, especially in winter, to stock up on fresh fruit and many people rely on commercially sold drinks as a source of vitamins. However, vitamin C, in particular, is known to be labile and therefore likely to be absent from a cooked food diet. In temperate climates, such as Japan or Europe, people ear fresh fruits in summer, but eat tinned, preserved, or cooked foods in the winter. The latter being more susceptible to heat, possibly breaking down the amount of vitamin C in them. This experiment tested for the vitamin C content in fresh fruit juices and commercially sold drinks. This experiment was conducted mostly on citrus fruits because vitamin C is said to be abundant in citrus fruits. The experiment was also performed on non-citrus fruits. The experiment was performed on these two types of fruit drinks because vitamin C contributes to maintaining a healthy body, especially during the winter, when citrus fruits are not in season. AS a result, the amount of vitamin C found in each type of juice would be essential in knowing what drinks to choose during the winter to provide the most or the optimum amount of vitamin C. Using this information, the following hypothesis was formed. Since vitamin C is labile (meaning susceptible to change and unstable), the commercially sold juices, which have most likely been heat treated and stored in various conditions for various periods of time, should have lower vitamin C content than fresh fruit juices. The commercially sold juices would have most likely been exposed to the conditions leading to the deterioration in the content of vitamin C. In this experiment the independent variables were the juices that were being tested for their vitamin C content. The volume