UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION CENTRE (INTEC)

NAME IC GROUP

: THERESA NG LEK WEI : 920512045192 : 11M7

SID NO. : 2010834226 TITLE : VITAMIN C CONTENT IN FRUIT JUICES

TITLE: The Vitamin C Content In Fruit Juices OBJECTIVES:

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To investigate which type of fruit juice has most vitamin C content. To develop skills to plot a standard graph of reference for the experiment. To compare the vitamin C content between fresh fruit juices and commercial fruit juices.

INTRODUCTION: Vitamin C which is also known as ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species in which it functions as a vitamin. Ascorbate, an anti-oxidant, protects the body against oxidative stress. It is also a cofactor in at least eight enzymatic reactions, including several collagen synthesis. Ascorbate (an ion of ascorbic acid) is required for a range of essential metabolic reactions in all living organisms. However, human does not synthesise their own ascorbic acid needed and all species which does not synthesise ascorbic acid needs it in their diet. Deficiency in the vitamin causes the disease scurvy in humans. Vitamin C is required for the growth and repair of tissues in all parts of your body. It is necessary to form collagen, an important protein used to make skin, scar tissue, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels. Vitamin C is essential for the healing of wounds, and for the repair and maintenance of cartilage, bones, and teeth. Vitamin C is one of many antioxidants. Vitamin E and beta-carotene are two other well-known antioxidants. Antioxidants are nutrients that block some of the damage caused by free radicals, which are by-products that result when our bodies transform food into energy. The build up of these by-products over time is largely responsible for the aging process and can contribute to the development of various health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and a host of inflammatory conditions like arthritis. Antioxidants also help reduce the damage to the body caused by toxic chemicals and pollutants such as cigarette smoke. The body does not manufacture vitamin C on its own, nor does it store it. It is therefore important to include plenty of vitamin C-containing foods in your daily diet. All fruits and vegetables contain some amount of vitamin C. Foods that tend to be the highest sources of vitamin C include green peppers, citrus fruits and juices, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, turnip greens and other leafy greens, sweet and white potatoes, and cantaloupe. Other excellent sources include papaya, mango, watermelon, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, winter squash, red peppers, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, and pineapples. Ascorbic acid is absorbed in the body by both active transport and simple diffusion. SodiumDependent Active Transport - Sodium-Ascorbate Co-Transporters (SVCTs) and Hexose transporters (GLUTs) - are the two transporters required for absorption. SVCT1 and SVCT2 imported the reduced form of ascorbate across plasma membrane. GLUT1 and GLUT3 are the two glucose transporters, and transfer only dehydroascorbic acid form of Vitamin C. Although dehydroascorbic acid is absorbed in higher rate than ascorbate, the amount of dehydroascorbic acid found in plasma and tissues under normal conditions is low, as cells rapidly reduce dehydroascorbic acid to ascorbate. Thus, SVCTs appear to be the predominant system for vitamin C transport in the body.

Daily requirements
DRI (RDA): 0 - 6 months 6 - 12 months 1 - 5 years 5 - 10 years 10 - 18 years 18 years + pregnant / lactating smoking Therapeutic Range: Males 40 mg AI * 50 mg AI * 20 mg 25 mg 45 - 75 mg 90 mg + 35 mg 250 mg - 25,000 mg+ Females 40 mg AI * 50 mg AI * 20 mg 25 mg 45 - 65 mg 75 mg + 45 mg + 35 mg

The best way to get the daily requirement of essential vitamins, including vitamin C, is to eat a balanced diet that contains a variety of foods from the food guide pyramid. Vitamin C should be consumed every day because it is not fat-soluble and, therefore, cannot be stored for later use. When vitamin C is digested, it becomes a water soluble antioxidant. Because it is in the water soluble state, vitamin C can directly affect the free radicals in the body. Free radicals are molecules located in the body which are highly reactive, and known for causing tissue damage. They are also notoriously known for inducing oxidative damage to the inner body, advancing the aging process, and can also cause cancer. Another function vitamin C influences is collagen synthesis. Collagen is the essential part of connective tissue. Connective tissue is needed to keep the body together, and is the very framework of the body - the skin, bones, teeth, blood vessels, cartilage, tendons and ligaments - all rely on collagen. Therefore, it is of acute precedence that there is a healthy amount of collagen in the body. This is the function, that when depleted of collagen, scurvy occurs. Scurvy is the result of deterioration of the blood vessels. Furthermore, it results in hemorrhage, bleeding gums, bruising, loose teeth, and the tendency for bones to fracture. It is vital for the body to receive an optimal amount of vitamin C because the production of collagen is linked directly to vitamin C; therefore, if there is a lack of vitamin C, there is an absence of collagen, and the body will literally fall apart. Furthermore, vitamin C is vital for the cardiovascular system. When the body's arteries become clogged, there isn't enough blood flow to the heart which results in a heart attack. Vitamin C's antioxidant properties are absorbed into the blood stream, and can actually repress the accumulation of arterial plaque. Vitamin C can be thought of as a type of "Drain-o" for arteries. It cleans the arteries, and enables a healthy flow of blood to the heart. Finally, vitamin C impacts the immune system. The immune system main operation is to protect the body from foreign substances or toxins. For the immune system to function correctly, vitamin C is a must. Vitamin C is extremely important in this function because it is involved with T-cells and white blood cells. The white blood cells function is basically to monitor various disease conditions. Because vitamin C boosts the white blood cell count, an individual who consumes high doses of vitamin C has a less likely chance of contracting diseases. PROBLEM STATEMENT: Which type of fruit juice has a higher amount of Vitamin C content? HYPOTHESIS: The lower the volume used to decolourise the DCPIP solution, the higher the concentration of Vitamin C in the fruit juice.

VARIABLES: Manipulated variable : The different types of fruit juice used for the test. Responding variable : The volume of fruit juice required to decolourise 1ml of 1 % DCPIP solution. Fixed variable : The volume of DCPIP solution used to be decolourised. of

APPARATUS: 1ml syringes, 100 ml beakers, test tubes, test tube rack, filter funnel, knife, white tile, 100 ml measuring cylinder and spatula. MATERIALS: Vitamin C tablets, 1% DCPIP solution, distilled water, fresh fruits (lime, star fruit and orange), fruit juices (star fruit, orange and lime). PROCEDURE: A. Preparation of Vitamin C Solution And Determining The Standard Curve. 1. 2. 3. 4. A 2000mg 1000mg, 500mg, 250mg, and 125mg of Vitamin C tablets were prepared. 2. Then the Vitamin C tablets are dissolved separately in 100ml of distilled water in beakers. 1 cm3 of 1% DCPIP solution is measured using a syringe and put into the test tube. To 1 cm3 of DCPIP solution, the 0.02gcm-1 of Vitamin C solution is added drop by drop by using the syringe until the blue DCPIP solution become colourless. The mixture is swirled gently. The volume of vitamin C solution used is recorded. 5. The experiment is repeated by using different concentrations of vitamin C solutions which are 0.01gcm-1 , 0.005gcm-1, 0.0025gcm-1 and 0.00125gcm-1. 6. The results are recorded and tabulated in table 1. 7. A graph of vitamin C solution used to decolourise the DCPIP solution against the concentration of the vitamin C solution is drawn which is known as the standard curve. B. Determining The Vitamin C Content In The Different Types of Juice 1. The 1cm3 of 1% DCPIP solution is measured and put into the test tube. 2. The fresh orange, lime and star fruit are cut squeezed in order to obtain fresh juices. The fresh fruit juices are then put into the respective beakers. 3. The commercial fruit juices which are orange, lime and star fruit are prepared and collected in beakers. 4. The fresh orange juice is sucked by using the syringe and is added drop by drop to the 1cm3 of 1% DCPIP solution until the blue solution turns colourless. The volume of fresh orange juice used to decolourise the DCPIP solution is recorded. 5. The experiment is repeated by using different type of fresh fruit juices and commercial fruit juices. 6. Respective results are recorded and tabulated in Table 2. 7. The content of vitamin C in the different types of juice can be determined by plotting the standard curve.

RESULTS: Mass of Vitamin C (mg) 125 250 500 1000 2000 Concentration of Vitamin C solution (%) 0.125 0.250 0.500 1.000 2.000 Volume of Vitamin C solution required to decolourise 1 cm3 of DCPIP solution (cm3 ) Trail 1 6.5 6.3 5.7 3.9 1.1 Trail 2 7.5 6.5 5.7 4.1 6.9 Average 7.0 6.4 5.7 4.0 1.0

Table 1: The volume of vitamin C solution needed to decolourise 1cm3 of 1% DCPIP. Type of Fruit Juice Volume of solution needed to decoulourise 1cm3 of DCPIP solution /cm3 Fresh fruit juice Lime Orange Star fruit Commercial fruit juice Lime Orange Star fruit 1.0 1.5 3.0 1.7 2.2 2.5 2.25 2.05 1.40 1.95 1.75 1.63 Concerntration of vitamin C /gcm-3

Table 2: The volume of fruit juices needed to decolourise 1cm3 of 1 % DCPIP solution and their respective vitamin C concentration. GRAPH: A graph of volume of fruit juice needed to decolourise 1cm3 in 1% DCPIP solution against concentration of vitamin C (standard curve) is drawn. DICUSSION: In this experiment, we found out that the higher the concentration of vitamin C in fruit juice, the lower the volume of fruit juice needed to decolourise 1cm3 1% DCPIP solution. The volume and concentration of the indicator, that is the DCPIP solution is fixed to a volume of 1ml and a concentration of 1%. The vitamin C tablets cotain an exact 500mg of vitamin C. They are affordable and very suitable to be investigated in this experiment. The tablets are divided into various proportions. Thus, a standard curve can be plotted. The potential sources of error in this experiment is the vitamin C in the fruit juices is already oxidised even before the experiment started as some of the fruits are imported from a high distance area.

Oxidation can easily happen with the presence of atmospheric oxygen surrounding the fruits. Futhermore, the fruit juices were prepared too early and mistakenly let the juices be in the open air for an interval of time. Thus, the vitamin C in the fruit juices are oxidized even more and influenced the experiment results greatly. The vitamin C is heat labile, it is susceptible to change and alter if expose to high temperatures. Therefore, is it important to make sure that the room temperature being constant and not too high that the vitamin C content of tall the fruit juices may not be altered. In addition, if the temperature is not constant, the results that we obtained may not be accurate too. Besides that, the decolourisation of DCPIP solution is hardly to be identified since the blue-black solution may not turn into colourless solution. This is due to the incomplete decolourisation of DCPIP solution as the contents inside the solution have not been filtered. As the consequence, then intensity of pink colour may vary when determining the end point of decolourisation. Secondly, the vitamin C tablets that being used to make standard solution may not 100% pure. Therefore, the real concentration of the standard solution cannot be determined accurately and the graph of the standard curve that has been plotted does not show the true concentration of vitamin C content. In fact, the real concentration of the standard solution is lower than what is shown on the graph. One of the reasons that make the experiment become less reliable is the oxidation of DCPIP solution. If the DCPIP solution is exposed too long to the air, the DCPIP solution will be oxidised resulting in higher volume of fruit juice needed to decolourise the solution. Thus, when come to use the DCPIP solution, student must take note that the atmosphere to dissolve in the DCPIP solution and oxidized the reduced DCPIP back to blue-black again. As a result, more vitamin C solution is needed to decolourise the DCPIP solution and the actual content of vitamin C in fruit juices will be altered. To solve this problem, one must not shake the test tube but swirl it gently to avoid any further oxidation. Other than that, there are some residues present in the fresh fruit juices of the commercial fruit juices. These residues will alter the results as they occupy the spaces in the syringe. Moreover, the vitamin C is very sensitive to heat, even a slight one such as the heat produced by the fluorescents lamps. Therefore, the vitamin C content might be different, as vitamin C is easily affected by the heat surrounding it. Systemic error done by the student be produced as extra forces are applied to the results obtained. During squeezing of fresh fruit process, heat might be produced as extra forces are applied to the fruits. The heat then destroys the vitamin C content in the fruits. Three sets of replicates are obtained for all the readings of the respective volumes of the different types of solution that was used to decolourise the DCPIP solution. Average titre value for each of the type of solution that was used to decolourise the DCPIP solution. This is because parallax error and random error may happen in the process of taking the reading. By repeating the same procedure thrice, these errors can be minimized. The three sets of replicate are obtained to improve the validity and the reliability of the results obtained. With the three sets of readings, the content of vitamin C in the different types of fruit juices can be determined more accurately and may be closer to the theoretical value. To minimize the possible risk factors that can be harmful to us, other safety precautions should be warned before the experiment is started. Lab coat and a pair of suitable shoes should be worn when you are in the lab at all times to prevent your skin from any harmful or irritating substance and spillages. Next, eye protection should always be worn while conducting an experiment in the laboratory to prevent the eyes from becoming irritated. The proper handling of the laboratory glassware should also be applied as to prevent any bleeding while in the laboratory. CONCLUSION: The lower the volume of fruit juice used to decolourise the DCPIP solution, the higher the concentration of Vitamin C in the fruit juice. The hypothesis is accepted.

REFERENCE: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=109 http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins-guide/vitamin-c-ascorbic-acid.html http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002404.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C http://kidshealth.org/teen/misc/vitamin_chart.html