What Is The Real Name Of Vitamin C? The Surprising Answer

Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin found naturally in some foods. It’s also added to others and is available as a dietary supplement. Humans, unlike most animals, can’t make vitamin C in their bodies. This means we need to get it from our diet.

Let’s dive deeper into the chemical makeup of vitamin C. L-ascorbic acid is a simple sugar molecule with a special structure. It’s an organic compound, meaning it contains carbon. You can even draw its structure with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms!

The name L-ascorbic acid tells us something important. The “L” stands for “levo,” which refers to its left-handed molecular structure. This structure is crucial because it’s the one our bodies can use.

Ascorbic acid is another name for vitamin C. It means “no scurvy,” a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C. So, you can think of L-ascorbic acid as the specific chemical name, and ascorbic acid as a more general term.