Benefits Of Ascorbic Acid Powder With Bioflavonoids

Ascorbic acid is another name for vitamin C, and ascorbic acid powder is a supplemental form of the nutrient. Other forms include chewable and non-chewable pills. Ascorbic acid's bioavailability, or your body's ability to absorb it, is equivalent to natural vitamin C, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Bioflavonoids are natural, water-soluble substances with characteristics similar to vitamins that always appear with vitamin C.

Preventing Ascorbic Acid Deficiency

As an essential nutrient, ascorbic acid helps your body function properly. Without adequate daily doses of the vitamin, which is 75 mg for adult women and 90 mg for adult men, a deficiency can result, causing anemia, a decreased healing rate, reduced immunity, easier bruising, nosebleeds, damaged skin and hair, inflamed joints, weakened tooth enamel, gingivitis and a slowed metabolism.

Antioxidant Benefits

On the other hand, there actual benefits of consuming ascorbic acid besides deficiency prevention, because it is an antioxidant. For example, the University of Maryland Medical Center indicates that the antioxidant quality of vitamin C may render it a hypertension preventative. It may also prevent cancer and osteoarthritis, according to the same source. As an antioxidant, vitamin C protects against free radical damage resulting from normal metabolism and the consumption of toxic chemicals, such as through drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco.

Bioflavonoids

Although bioflavonoids always appear with vitamin C in foods, experts consider the substance controversial, according to Audrey Ensminger in the book "Foods and Nutrition Encyclopedia." This is due to confusion regarding the classification of the chemical, because, though beneficial, the biological activity of bioflavonoids is mostly indirect. One such indirect benefit is that they keep vitamin C from oxidizing, which can release free radicals while destroying the vitamin. Another indirect benefit is that they bind with toxic metals throughout the body and draw them out as the body passes the bioflavonoids with urine in a process called "chelating," according to Gary Null in the book "The Complete Guide to Health and Nutrition." Examples of bioflavonoids include citrin, which appears in citrus fruits; rutin, which appears in buckwheat; and hesperidin, which appears in fruit skins and peels.

Rationale

Producers mostly add bioflavonoids to ascorbic acid powder to increase the bioavailability of the ascorbic acid. This is particularly beneficial in a supplement, as bioflavonoids make it easier to consume larger doses of the vitamin than you would if you derived it from food. The greater the ascorbic acid dose, the less the small intestine absorbs -- it may even stop absorbing the vitamin altogether, so that only a small amount absorbs from membranes in the mouth and esophagus, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Bioflavonoids counteract this effect, so you can absorb significant proportions of the ascorbic acid you consume, even if it exceeds 75 to 90 mg per day.