Vitamin C, or L-ascorbic acid, is a vitamin found in many citrus fruits, berries, papaya, pineapple and melons. Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin and an essential dietary component for synthesizing collagen, L-carnitine and for protein metabolism, according to the National Institutes for Health. Your body does not produce vitamin C, making eating foods that contain vitamin C an integral part of a daily diet.
Step 1
List the fruit or fruits that you want to search for the vitamin C measurements.
Step 2
Find a nutrient database to find the vitamin C for various foods, such as the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. This online database lets you search by keywords and food groups. In addition, you can search for books that contain nutritional information.
Step 3
Search for the fruit in the database to find the vitamin C content. For example, one medium kiwi contains 64 mg per serving, which is 107 percent of the recommended daily value for vitamin C, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Step 4
Calculate the vitamin C content by adding the mg per serving found in each fruit. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the recommended daily value for vitamin C is 60 mg for adults and children age 4 and older.
Tips and Warnings
- If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, the recommended daily values increase to 85 mg during pregnancy and 120 mg while breast-feeding, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Things You'll Need
- Nutrient database
- Calculator
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