Throughout chilly and flu season, vitamin C turns into the star of many drugs cupboards and pantries. This highly effective micronutrient has confirmed itself to be very important for immune assist, making it further important within the chilly winter months1.
Fortunately, nature rises to the event to ship precisely what we’d like. Winter is the height season for vitamin C-rich meals like citrus fruits2. Simply when your physique is in search of further assist, citrus fruits are at their optimum taste and freshness to assist.
And in case you’re not a citrus fruit fan, don’t fear — there are tons of different meals wealthy in vitamin C to show to, from bell peppers to strawberries. So in case you’re trying to assist immunity with out taking a complement, let’s take a deeper take a look at what meals to eat, how a lot you want, and a few meal plans to assist your consumption.
What Is Vitamin C and Why Does It Matter?
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, which implies it may possibly’t be saved within the physique — so it ought to be consumed day by day3. Together with being a precursor for necessary compounds like collagen for pores and skin well being, vitamin C additionally enhances iron absorption4. And let’s not neglect the antioxidant properties of vitamin C that make it so helpful for immune well being assist.
Antioxidants like vitamin C assist battle free radicals within the physique that may trigger cell harm5. Due to this, vitamin C and different antioxidants can assist scale back continual illness threat, assist wound therapeutic, and improve immune perform3. With out ample vitamin C in your food regimen, you could be in danger for vitamin C deficiency, also called scurvy, which we are going to speak extra about later6.
How A lot Vitamin C Do You Want Each day?
Adults have various vitamin C wants, with the really useful dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin C at round 75 milligrams (mg) for ladies, 90 mg for males, and an extra 35 mg for people who smoke4. People who smoke want extra vitamin C as a result of smoking produces an extreme quantity of free radicals, and in flip depletes vitamin C ranges7.
Many research even suggest greater than the RDA of vitamin C for optimum well being. The “candy spot” for vitamin C to assist immune well being and scale back threat of getting a chilly is 200 mg day by day8,9. However like something in life, it’s additionally potential to have an excessive amount of of factor. The higher restrict for vitamin C per day is 2,000 mg — greater than this may trigger diarrhea, complications, and gastrointestinal discomfort in some individuals10.
20+ Meals Wealthy in Vitamin C
Now that you recognize why vitamin C is sweet for you, let’s take a look at some meals sources of vitamin C that you could add to your food regimen at the moment to reap the advantages. A few of them would possibly shock you! Contemplate saving this record to your cellphone on your subsequent journey to the grocery retailer or farmer’s market. Examples of vitamin C meals sources, together with their vitamin C content material and approximate day by day worth of vitamin C, embrace11,12,13,14,15:
Vitamin C Champions (100mg+)
- Crimson bell peppers: One cup uncooked of candy crimson pepper accommodates 190 mg of vitamin C (212% DV) — that’s much more than oranges!
- Guava: One 55 g guava fruit (with out refuse) accommodates round 125 mg of vitamin C (137% DV).
- Orange juice: One cup of orange juice accommodates round 124 mg of vitamin C (~136% DV).
Winter Citrus Fruits
These fruits are at the moment of their peak season, so it’s a good time to top off.
- Oranges: One medium orange accommodates 70 mg of vitamin C (78% DV).
- Grapefruit: One-half of a medium grapefruit accommodates 39 mg of vitamin C (43% DV).
- Clementines: One 74 g clementine fruit accommodates round 36 mg of vitamin C (40% DV).
- Kiwi: One medium kiwi fruit accommodates 64 mg of vitamin C (71% DV).
- Papaya: One cup of uncooked papaya accommodates round 88 mg of vitamin C (98% DV).
- Candy potatoes: One medium baked candy potato accommodates round 22 mg of vitamin C (24% DV).
Cruciferous Greens
- Brussels sprouts: One-half cup of cooked Brussels sprouts accommodates 48 mg of vitamin C (53% DV).
- Broccoli: One-half cup cooked of broccoli accommodates 51 mg of vitamin C (57% DV).
- Kale: One cup of uncooked kale accommodates round 19 mg of vitamin C (21% DV).
- Cabbage: One-half cup cooked cabbage accommodates 28 mg vitamin C (31% DV).
- Cauliflower: One-half cup of uncooked cauliflower accommodates 26 mg of vitamin C (29% DV).
Stunning Sources of Vitamin C
- Strawberries: One-half cup of sliced strawberries accommodates 49 mg of vitamin C (54% DV).
- Tomatoes: One medium uncooked tomato accommodates 17 mg of vitamin C (19% DV).
- Tomato juice: One cup of tomato juice accommodates round 44 mg of vitamin C (49% DV).
- Baked white potato: One medium baked white potato accommodates round 17 mg of vitamin C (19% DV).
- Candy inexperienced peppers: One-half cup of inexperienced candy peppers accommodates 60 mg of vitamin C (67% DV).
- Grapefruit juice: One cup of white grapefruit juice accommodates round 93 mg of vitamin C (103% DV).
- Cantaloupe: One-half cup of cantaloupe accommodates 29 mg of vitamin C (32% DV).
Suggestions for Vitamin C Retention
With regards to vitamin C-rich produce and juices, correct storage and preparation is vital to vitamin retention. Issues like pH, mild, temperature, and the focus of oxygen can all vastly impression vitamin C preservation16.
Storage
With regards to storage, make sure to maintain vitamin C-rich juices within the fridge at 41 levels Fahrenheit or much less in a sealed glass container for optimum vitamin preservation17,18. For vitamin C-rich produce, eat uncooked produce as quickly as potential after you buy it, however wait to chop or peel it till proper earlier than you eat or put together it for optimum freshness.
Make sure to retailer uncooked produce within the fridge as nicely, however in hermetic containers — ideally opaque glass containers. This helps scale back publicity to oxygen and moisture, which may have an effect on the vitamin C content material of your meals19. There are particular exceptions, nevertheless — some produce like candy potatoes ought to be stored saved in a dry and darkish location like in a brown bag or closed basket20.
Whether or not you merely retailer it after buying or put together the produce beforehand, make sure to use most refrigerated vitamin C-rich meals inside three to 5 days. Some extra delicate produce like leafy greens might solely stay recent for round two days after storage, whereas produce like peppers might keep for up to some weeks within the fridge crisper21.
Preparation
Once you put together meals wealthy in vitamin C, we suggest cooking them shortly in as little water as potential. Cooking strategies like steaming or stir frying (relatively than boiling, for instance) assist protect probably the most vitamin C content material. These strategies expose your vitamin C-rich meals to the bottom quantity of warmth and moisture potential (aside from merely consuming them uncooked).
Recent vs. Frozen
Questioning in case you’ll nonetheless get the identical vitamin C advantages from these frozen strawberries you set in your smoothie this morning? You may be shocked. A research that in contrast vitamin retention in eight fruit and veggies when frozen vs. recent discovered that the frozen produce had comparable OR sometimes greater vitamin content material than their recent counterparts22.
It’s because frozen greens are typically harvested at peak ripeness earlier than being frozen and packaged inside a number of hours, whereas recent fruit and veggies are typically picked earlier than they’re ripe in order that they don’t spoil throughout transportation. This implies they’ve much less time on the plant to develop a full vary of nutritional vitamins and minerals, plus they usually sit for lengthy durations of time in storage earlier than ever arriving in your kitchen.
Alternatively, the blanching course of that’s usually used to prepare dinner greens earlier than frozen can scale back vitamin C content material — so on the entire, you’re an nearly negligible distinction between recent and frozen. Take your choose!
Your 200 mg Each day Problem: Meal Plan Concepts
If you wish to be certain that you devour the “candy spot” of 200 mg of vitamin C day by day, attempt one in all these three beginning factors for sensible meal plans.
Winter Citrus Lover
We love this one as a result of it highlights present peak season produce that you could simply buy in these winter months. Should you’re leaning into this plan, get pleasure from numerous candy potatoes and citrus fruits to achieve your vitamin C objectives. Strive having half a grapefruit and an orange at breakfast, one other orange as a snack, and embrace one medium candy potato at dinner to hit your day by day 200 mg vitamin C aim.
Veggie-Centered
This plan has the added bonus of serving to you hit your fiber objectives alongside your vitamin C objectives. Lean into greens at most meals and unfold out your consumption. For instance, attempt a kale, cauliflower, and broccoli salad at lunch — you’ll hit half of your day by day aim in a single meal. Then throw some roasted Brussels sprouts and cabbage as sides on your protein at dinner and you may name it a day.
Finances-Pleasant
Should you’re on a meals finances, there are nonetheless loads of methods to hit your 200 mg of vitamin C day by day with out breaking the financial institution. For instance, even simply beginning your day with a glass of orange juice does an enormous quantity of labor in direction of your aim. Then attempt a baked white potato with a aspect of frozen broccoli or cauliflower for dinner and also you’ll be good to go.
Indicators of Vitamin C Deficiency
Though uncommon, vitamin C deficiency can happen in sure at-risk populations, together with these with alcohol use dysfunction, consuming problems, restricted diets, malabsorption problems, or restrictive diets7. And as talked about earlier than, people who smoke are additionally extra in danger for vitamin C deficiency8.
Vitamin C deficiency signs embrace7:
- Frequent infections
- Fatigue
- Bleeding gums
- Simple bruising
- Pores and skin rashes
- Delayed wound therapeutic
FAQs
The fruit with probably the most vitamin C on the earth is a Kakadu plum, a uncommon fruit present in Australia which accommodates 2300 to 3150 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams of recent weight23. Essentially the most vitamin C-rich fruit present in america is guava.
Crimson and inexperienced bell peppers, or candy peppers, include extra vitamin C than oranges!
It could be very tough to devour greater than the higher restrict of two,000 mg of vitamin C day by day, since most meals don’t include vital quantities of vitamin C. Our our bodies additionally excrete this water-soluble vitamin all through the day, so your threat actually is low.
Should you do handle to devour greater than 2,000 mg of vitamin C day by day by meals alone, it’ll probably not trigger a lot hurt apart from gastrointestinal results like nausea and diarrhea in some individuals.
Taking vitamin C if you end up already sick is not going to essentially make your illness go away. Nonetheless, research recommend that taking vitamin C earlier than you get sick might shorten the length and severity of chilly signs in case you do get sick, so it’s all the time a good suggestion to remain on prime of standard consumption24.
Sources:
- https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/9/11/1211
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7571178/
- https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12640369/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12085410/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493187/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12173858/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279544/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12655283/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12441711/
- https://www.nal.usda.gov/websites/default/information/page-files/Vitaminpercent20C.pdf
- https://fruitsandveggies.org/weblog/whats-in-season-winter/
- https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/173044/vitamins
- https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/168195/vitamins
- https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/168421/vitamins
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8619176/#sec6-foods-10-02630
- https://www.researchgate.internet/publication/374183400_Stability_of_Vitamin_C_Content_in_Plant_and_Vegetable_Juices_under_Different_Storing_Conditions
- https://www.fns.usda.gov/fs/produce-safety/storage
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8619176/#sec6-foods-10-02630
- https://www.fns.usda.gov/fs/produce-safety/storage
- https://extension.umaine.edu/food-health/2025/05/29/storing-and-washing-fresh-fruits-and-vegetables/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25526594/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10056586/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38082300/
