Why I Buy Certified Organic Acerola Sourced Vitamin C

As our understanding of nutrients has grown over the last century or so it's become apparent that the health benefits we derive from vitamins and minerals are often the result of groups of nutrients acting together rather than being the result of a single nutritional factor. One of the first observations of this behaviour was with respect to Vitamin C. Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Hungarian scientist and Nobel prize winner is often credited with the discovery of Vitamin C. His work in the late 1920s and early 1930s led both to the discovery of Vitamin C and a basic understanding of it's antioxidant characteristics. Szent-Györgyi's experiments were conducted using Vitamin C extracted from Hungarian peppers. As important as his discovery was it is in some ways overshadowed by his observation that the dried whole food product of Hungarian peppers was actually more biologically active (several times in fact) than the purified Vitamin C from the same food source. This led Szent-Györgyi to suggest that there were other chemicals or phytonutrients in the peppers which enhanced the antioxidant characteristics of the Vitamin C present. This observation underlies much of our understanding of modern nutrition specifically whole food nutrition.

Whole foods contain more nutrients and deliver greater health benefits then purified single nutrients.

Acerola berries that are carefully selected on the basis of their Vitamin C content are an incredibly rich source of both Vitamin C as well as the complex mixture of phytonutrients (bioflavonoids, caroteniods etc.) that enhance C activity. A natural combination that cannot be duplicated in a lab and that will outperform Vitamin C alone.

When purchasing an acerola product look for the following:

Certified organic - certification ensures that the product is as free from synthetic contaminants as is possible.

Standardized Vitamin C content - C content varies wildly in food products, never purchase an acerola product or other food sourced C product unless it clearly states the Vitamin C content.

By Graham Butler
Brand Manager for Naturally Nova Scotia

Want to see how NNS's Vitamin C line holds up to Graham's checklist? Visit our website.