VITAMIN C EXISTS IN A VARIETY OF CHEMICAL FORMS

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Now we know that the at-least 7 different forms of vitamin C include forms that are chemically bound or unbound, oxidized or reduced, and as a neutral salt or as a free acid. These different forms have different chemical properties and physiological roles about which we doubtless still have much to learn. So far we have discussed only ascorbigen, a bound form of L-ascorbic acid. But there is a non-ionic oxidized form, dehydroascorbic acid that diffuses through the cell membrane much more rapidly than L-ascorbic acid. Recent studies have shown that this is the form that actually enters the cell and gets reduced to L-ascorbic acid, the form that is then trapped inside the cell because it is then unable to diffuse back out across the cell membrane.(Rose 1987) Poydock et al have shown that an increase in the blood level of dehydroascorbic acid has been correlated with a decrease in cell division in ascites tumors in mice. (Poydock et al, 1982) Other substances in addition to I-3-C are now known to act with the greatest physiological effectiveness when they are bound to one of the forms of vitamin C. These substances include pectin (Kritchevsky 1978), bioflavinoids (Vinson 1987), and other important heterocyclic compounds (Wattenberg 1979). One very interesting form of vitamin C is called isoascorbate. (Sometimes it is called erythorbic acid) It is known to be a "free radical scavenger and antioxidant".(Rencricca 1979) It is now known to be considerably more effective in seeking out dangerous free radicals than is ascorbic acid, the form of vitamin C that was once thought to be the only chemical form of Vitamin C.