Better to eat kiwifruit than to take vitamin C supplements

May 27, 2011 in Health

(Medical Xpress) -- University of Otago, Christchurch, researchers have found that a natural fruit source of vitamin C – kiwifruit – is vastly superior to a purified supplement form.

The researchers are studying kiwifruit as a source of dietary vitamin C and found that in mice eating kiwifruit, vitamin C uptake was five times as effective as taking a purified supplement form.

The study was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the highest ranking journal for human nutrition research.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Margreet Vissers says people require vitamin C (ascorbate) in all body tissues and organs to be healthy. Our bodies cannot make the vitamin and we should obtain it from our food. It is also available in purified form and is arguably the most commonly consumed vitamin supplement.

In the experiment vitamin C-deficient mice were fed the vitamin over a month, either as kiwifruit or as an equivalent amount of pure vitamin C.

Mice fed the absorbed vitamin C much more efficiently than those given the purified supplement form, and they also retained it for longer. This suggests that there is something in the fruit that improves absorption and retention.

Vissers says: “The findings of the mouse trial have important implications for human nutrition”.

To determine whether this situation also applies to people would require a human trial and an equivalent human study is now underway.

“The question that has often been asked is whether a supplement is as good a source of as whole foods, but few studies have addressed this issue. We are uniquely placed to do that work.’’

The mouse study was funded by Zespri and the University of Otago.

Provided by University of Otago

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Squirrel
May 27, 2011

Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Misleading title. It should have been "For mice it is better to eat kiwifruit than to take vitamin C supplements". Mice unlike primates internally generate ascorbate. Their digestive system is also rather different--for a start much shorter. There is so far no reason to eat kiwifruit rather than take supplements--unless you are a kiwifruit grower.
GeeDoubleYa
May 27, 2011

Rank: not rated yet
Good point, Squirrel. Come to think of it, you don't see too many mice munching on kiwifruit or buying ascorbate supplements at their local pharmacy.

From www.ajcn.org/cont....abstrac
"Zespri International is a nongovernment company that markets kiwifruit and develops new varieties. They provided only funding for this study, with no input into the study design, analysis, or interpretation of the data and were approached by MCMV in the first instance."

From http://www.freshp...id=81029
"Natalie Milne, Health Marketing Manager for ZESPRI said, 'These vitamin C results are very exciting for ZESPRI. To know the vitamin C in ZESPRI® GOLD Kiwifruit a natural fruit, grown here in a clean, green and safe environment - is more than 5 times better absorbed by the body than a vitamin C supplement, confirms our view that ZESPRI® Kiwifruit can naturally strengthen and protect the body for daily good health'." No mice mentioned.

Follow the money.
FrankHerbert
Jul 14, 2011

Rank: 1.2 / 5 (5)
Everyone has cooky beliefs and one of mine is that vitamin c is a macronutrient as per Linus Pauling.

The great apes, a few other primates, and a handful of other animals are the only lifeforms not capable of producing vitamin c that need it. This is due to a defective gene we all share, which I hope to have fixed one day through gene therapy.

If every animal were the size of a human, the average animal would produce 5g of vitamin c every day. Non-human great apes consume upwards of 10g per day in their diets.

When you look at the label on your orange juice and see 100% vitamin c, that means there is 60mg in there. I try to take at least 1g per day. 1g is difficult enough to get without supplementation let alone what Pauling recommended. Buffered vitamin c powder is the best route I've found.
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