Vitamin C or
L-ascorbic acid or Ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and other
animal species. Vitamin C as a
chemical refers to a number of vitamers that have vitamin C activity in animals, including ascorbic acid and its
salts, and other oxidized forms of the molecule, like dehydroascorbic acid.
Ascorbate and ascorbic acid are both naturally present when either of them is
introduced into the cells.
As food chemicals,
vitamin C is widely used as a food
additive to prevent scurvy and more importantly, oxidative stress. This food chemical can be oxidized in the
human cells by the enzyme, L-ascorbate oxidase. Vitamin C is essentially a healthy thing to eat in foods in both an anti-cancer and non anti-cancer diet,
