The Content of Vitamin C in Different Types of Food and Ways of Preparation Nur Azuaniza Hasnan (D20101039445)

Abstract Aqueous extract of different types of food which are Malus domestica (apple), Citrus reticulate (orange), Brassica oleracea (broccoli) was evaluated for their vitamin C content and the effect of food preparation against the content of vitamin C. Vitamin C content was evaluated by using the food extract which were placed in different ways of preparation such as room temperature (fresh), steam and boil with 0.1M HCl and starch solution while iodine solution was placed in the burette. By using titration method, the volume reading on the burette was recorded when the color of iodine changed into blue-black for stayed for 15 seconds. Keywords: vitamin C, Malus domestica (apple), Citrus reticulate (orange), Brassica oleracea (broccoli), iodine. ___________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Vitamins are group of small molecular compounds that are essential nutrients in many multicellular organisms, and humans in particular. The name vitamin is a contraction of vital amine, and came about because many of the vitamins to be discovered were members of this class of organic compounds. A vitamin C deficiency in human results in the disease called scurvy, whose symptoms include hemorrhaging (especially in the gums), joint pain and exhaustion (Brody, 1994). In its final stages scurvy is characterized by a profound exhaustion, diarrhea, and then pulmonary and kidney failure, which result in death (Kramer et al., 2011). A very small daily intake of vitamin C is required to avoid deficiency and stave off scurvy (Kallner, 1986). Fruits and vegetables are generally the best sources of ascorbic acid. The amount of ascorbic acid in plants varies greatly, depending on such factors as the variety, weather and maturity (Kramer, 2011). But the most significant determinant of vitamin content in foods is how the food is stored and prepared. Since vitamin C is easily oxidized, storage and the cooking in air leads to the eventual oxidation of vitamin C by oxygen in the atmosphere. In addition, ascorbic acids water-solubility means that a significant amount of vitamin C present in food can be lost by boiling it and then discarding the cooking water. Therefore, the aim of the study is to analyze the content of vitamin C in different types of food and ways of preparation.

Materials and method Preparation starch solution (1%) Mix 1g starch in 100 ml boiling H2O. Boil for one minute while stirring. Stir until completely dissolved (this solution will be cloudy). Preparation iodine solution Mix 0.6 g potassium iodide in 500 ml H2O. Mix 0.6 g iodine in 50 ml of ethyl alcohol. These two iodine solutions should be mixed well before combining. Combine the two iodine solutions and add an additional 450 ml of H2O. Preparation of vitamin C extracts Chop food material into small pieces and piece into blender. Add 100 ml of distilled water to the blender. Blend using the highest speed until the material is thoroughly ground. Strain the ground extract. Measure 30 ml of the strained extract into a 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask or beaker. Measuring vitamin C content Place 30 ml of the food extracts solution in a 250 ml flask or beaker. Add 2 drops of the 0.1M HCl to the flask. Fill a burette with the iodine solution. Record the initial volume reading. Add the iodine solution in 1 ml increments to the flask while swirling the flask. Add iodine until the solution stays blue-black for 15 seconds. Record the volume reading on the burette. Then, compare the vitamin C in fresh food and the food which have been prepared by different ways of food preparation.

Result and discussion Broccoli Average vitamin C in 30g (mg/ml) Fresh Steam Boil 0.60 0.58 0.48 Average vitamin C in 100 g (mg/ml) 2.00 1.93 1.60 Orange Average vitamin C in 30g (mg/ml) 0.34 0.24 0.18 Average vitamin C in 100 g (mg/ml) 1.13 0.80 0.60 Apple Average vitamin C in 30g (mg/ml) 0.36 0.31 0.28 Average vitamin C in 100 g (mg/ml) 1.20 1.03 0.92

Table 1: The content of vitamin C in different ways of food preparation.

Table 1 shows the content of vitamin C in different ways of food preparation. The result indicated different ways of food preparation affect the content of ascorbic acid, in all cases there was ascorbic acid reduction as the temperature goes higher. From the table 1, fresh food contained the highest amount of vitamin C. However, in comparison to the three types of food, broccoli contained the highest vitamin C followed by apple and orange. According to preparation of food, fresh food contained the highest amount vitamin C followed by steam and boil. In fresh orange, 0.34 mg/ml in 30g and 1.13 mg/ml in 100g of average vitamin C were recorded; whereby fresh apple 0.36 mg/ml in 30g and 1.20 mg/ml in 100g of average vitamin C and fresh broccoli recorded 0.60 mg/ml in 30g while 2.00 mg/ml in 100g of average vitamin C. For the steam preparation, average vitamin C in 30g broccoli was 0.58 mg/ml while in 100g was 1.93 mg/ml, for the 30g apple, the average vitamin C was 0.31 mg/ml and 1.03 mg/ml for 100g. For the boiling preparation, the average vitamin C in broccoli in 30g was 0.48mg/ml while 100g was 1.60 mg/ml, for the 30g apple, 0.28 mg/ml of average vitamin C was recorded and 0.92 mg/ml in 100g apple was obtained whereas in orange 0.18mg/ml in 30g and 0.60mg/ml in 100g of average vitamin C were recorded. Based on the results obtained, it was clearly shown that the temperature or the ways of the food was prepared effects the content of vitamin C.

Conclusion The result of this experiment showed that a different type of foods and different ways of food preparation does effects the amount of vitamin C. Fresh food contained highest amount of vitamin C while when temperature goes higher the level of vitamin C become lower. It is therefore recommended that fresh food would be suitable to consume since it has the highest content of vitamin C.

Acknowledgement The author is very much grateful to Dr. Rosmilah binti Misnan for guiding the author throughout the experiment.

References 1. Oyetade, O.A., Oyeleke, G.O., Adegoke, B.M., Akintunde, A.O; Stability studies on ascorbic acid (vitamin C) from different sources 2012, 20-24. 2. Kramer, B.K; Pultz, V.M; McCormick, J.M; Vitamin C analysis 2011.