Vegetable juice delivers more vitamin C to bloodstream than supplements, study finds

Fresh-pressed vegetable juice raises blood vitamin C levels more effectively than supplements, according to a new South Korean study.

The research team, led by Park Eun-ju, a professor in the Department of Food and Nutrition at Gyeongnam University, compared how well the body absorbs vitamin C depending on its form, using 12 healthy adults as subjects. The findings were published in the international nutrition journal Nutrients, according to the Korea Food Communication Forum on Friday.

Participants were divided into three groups and given vitamin C supplements, raw vegetables and fruit, or fresh-pressed vegetable and fruit juice, respectively. Blood vitamin C concentrations were measured before consumption and at 30 minutes, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24 hours afterward. The juice group recorded higher blood vitamin C levels than the other two groups at each measurement point.

The area under the concentration-time curve, or AUC — a measure of how much vitamin C circulates in the blood over a given period — also peaked in the juice group.

"What stands out in this study is that blood concentration levels changed differently depending on the form of vitamin C consumed, even when the amount was the same," Park said. She added that eating plenty of nutrient-rich vegetables and fruit is the foundation of good health, and recommended consuming them at breakfast rather than at lunch or dinner, when eating out tends to be more common.