Young-Rim Jung

Comparative bioavailability of synthetic vitamin C and Nutra-C (calcium ascorbate) in Korean healthy volunteers

The purpose of this study was to compare the relative bioavailability of synthetic Vitamin C and Nutra-C ® (calcium ascorbate) using a randomized parallel pharmacokinetics study design. Under fasting conditions, 20 healthy volunteers were randomly allocated to receive a single oral dose (500 mg of ascorbic acid) of either synthetic Vitamin C or Nutra-C ® . Fasting blood was collected pre-dose and 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 10 hr post-dose. The ascorbic acid content of human serum was determined using HPLC with ultraviolet detection. The fasting serum ascorbic acid concentrations of synthetic Vitamin C and Nutra-C ® were 6.734 ± 2.09 ng/mL (n = 10) and 7.542 ± 2.96 ng/mL (n = 10), respectively. The bioavailability of Nutra-C ® was significantly greater (128 %, p < 0.05) than that of the synthetic Vitamin C.