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An outstanding food source of vitamin C

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J C Brand
J C Brand
J C Brand
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Vic Cherikoff at The University of Sydney
Vic Cherikoff
Anna Lee
Anna Lee
Anna Lee
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Arthur Stewart Truswell at The University of Sydney
Arthur Stewart Truswell
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Abstract

We have found, in a wild fruit, fifty times as much vitamin C as is present in oranges, and this may be the richest natural source of this vitamin in the world. In our study of the nutritional composition of: bushfoods used by Australian Aborigines, samples are collected by Aboriginal health workers and others and air freighted to Sydney. In three samples of Terminalia ferdinandiana we found ascorbic acid contents of 3150, 2850, and 2300 mg per 100 g edible fruit. The samples came from three different areas near Darwin (Northern Territory) in two successive seasons, 1981 and 1982.
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AN OUTSTANDING FOOD SOURCE OF VITAMIN C
Brand JC, Cherikoff V, Lee A, Truswell AS,
Lancet 1982; 2:873
SIR,—We have found, in a wild fruit, fifty times as much vitamin C as is present in oranges, and
this may be the richest natural source of this vitamin in the world. In our study of the nutritional
composition of: bushfoods used by Australian Aborigines, samples are collected by Aboriginal
health workers and others and air freighted to Sydney. In three samples of Terminalia ferdinandiana
we found ascorbic acid contents of 3150, 2850, and 2300 mg per 100 g edible fruit. The samples
came from three different areas near Darwin (Northern Territory) in two successive seasons, 1981
and 1982.
We used reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography on two prepacked 25 cm
'Lichrosorb RPB' 10um columns connected in series with a 3cm guard column. The mobile phase is
water with pH adjusted to 2.5 with metaphosphoric acid and detection is by a spectrophotometer at
245nm. Any dehydroascorbic acid is converted to ascorbic acid. We confirmed values for ascorbic
acid in T. ferdinandiana fruit by dinitrophenylhydrazine and dichloroindophenol methods.
Terminalia spp. are tropical trees of the Combretaceae family (to which the almond also belongs).
T. ferdinandiana, Excell ex S.T. Blake is a tall slender tree growing up to 10 m with large green-to-
yellow leaves. It is found along the north-west coast of Australia. The fruit grows along the
branches and matures from March to August; it is about 2 cm long and 1 cm in diameter, light
green to yellow in colour and contains a single large pip. It looks and tastes like an English
gooseberry. Near settlements or camps all the fruit on the trees is eaten, especially by children. It is
not a staple food, nor one for which a special expedition might be made. One Aboriginal name for
the fruit is manmohpan, in the language of people in Western Arnhem Land.
Citrus fruits have around 50 mg vitamin C per 100 g; at 100 mg or above come (uncooked)
broccoli, sprouts, kale, cauliflower, parsley, nettles, green mango, and kiwi fruit; around 200-300
mg are blackcurrants, guavas, peppers, cashew fruit pulp, some tropical vegetables, and a few bush
fruits. At the top of the league table of vitamin C, expressed in mg per 100 g raw food, are sea
buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides, 450), ambia or emblic (Emblica officinalis, 600), rosehips.
(Rosa canina, 1250), dattock fruit (Detarium senegalense, 1290), and acerola or Barbados cherry
(Malpighia pumcifolia, 1000 to 2330).
We thank the Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies for financial support; Ms Robin Lion and
colleagues and Mr Clyde Dunlop for collecting samples; and Mr G. Hutchison, Mr L. Lawler, Dr
Dermot Smyth, and Captain L. J. Hiddins for advice
JENNIE C. BRAND
VIC CHERIKOFF
ANNA LEE
A.STEWART TRUSWELL
Human Nutrition Unit and Commonwealth Institute of Sydney Health
University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006,
1. Brand JC, Shelley C, McDonnell J, Lee A. The nutritional composition of Aboriginal bushfoods.
Proc Nutrition Soc Aust 1981; 6:170.
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1982 (in press).
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... Kakadu plum fruit has been utilized as a food source and in traditional medicine, while the bark and leaves have been employed to treat colds, the flu, and various skin conditions, including skin disorders, fungal infections, and bacterial infections, by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years [29]. T. ferdinandiana fruit has a high level of vitamin C, which is 50-times (by wet weight) higher than the vitamin C in oranges [30] and approximately 900-times (by dry weight) higher than that in blueberries [31]. Although the high level of ascorbic acid in T. ferdinandiana fruit extract is responsible for its antioxidant potential, it also contains other polyphenolic antioxidants [31] that exhibit in vitro antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and anticancer properties [32,33]. ...
Green Synthesis of Terminalia ferdinandiana Exell-Mediated Silver Nanoparticles and Evaluation of Antibacterial Performance
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This study uses a novel method in which extracts from different parts of a single plant are used to synthesize well-defined silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to address the lack of capping agents in certain plant extracts. We focused on synthesizing AgNPs with enhanced biomedical activity using aqueous leaves and fruit extracts of Terminalia ferdinandiana Exell, a plant native to northern Australia that is known for its high phenolic content and associated health benefits. The impact of using parameters such as the Ag + ion-to-extract ratio and pH on AgNP synthesis was examined. The formation of AgNPs was confirmed using UV-visible spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering. The AgNPs synthesized at a pH of 8 and 1:25 Ag + /extract ratio exhibited the lowest particle size and polydispersity index. The AgNPs synthesized with leaf extract (AgKL) were monodisperse and exhibited a smaller hydrodynamic diameter (37 nm) compared to the fruit extract nanoparticles (AgKP), which were polydisperse and larger (147 nm). Phytochemicals in T. ferdinandiana aqueous leaf extract act as effective capping and stabilizing agents, enabling the synthesis of small-sized and homogenous AgNPs, which the fruit extract alone could not achieve. The in vitro bioactivity was evaluated using antioxidant and antibacterial assays and compared with the crude extract. Both the AgNPs and T. ferdinandiana extracts demonstrated strong 2,2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity. However, only AgKL showed excellent antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria based on minimum inhibitory and bactericidal results. Mixing 50% leaf extract with fruit extract resulted in well-stabilized NPs (AgKPL) with a hydrodynamic diameter of 33.4 nm and superior antibacterial properties. These results indicate that AgKL and AgKPL have significant potential for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.
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... Presence of porous lesions on the greater wing of the sphenoid bone and the internal aspect of the ascending ramus have both been associated with scurvy, which is a result of malnutrition (Pitre et al., 2016). Scurvy is caused by an inadequate amount of vitamin C in the diet; vitamin C is found in foods such as citrus fruit, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc. (Brand et al., 1982). In a modern American sample, all children with vitamin C deficiency had underlying medical conditions such as thalassemia, sickle cell anemia, neurologic disorders, and bone marrow transplants/chemotherapy; no children had scurvy from dietary deficiency alone (Golriz, 2017). ...
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... minerals, vitamins, sugars) as well as several bioactive secondary metabolites (Konczak et al., 2014;Williams et al., 2014) have also been reported in this fruit. Kakadu Plum particularly represents an exceptional source of vitamin C (Brand et al., 1982), a unique edible source of ellagic acid and ETs (Konczak et al., 2014;Williams et al., 2016Williams et al., , 2014. These exceptional properties have increased the commercial value of wild harvested KP. ...
Hydrolysable tannins in Terminalia ferdinandiana Exell fruit powder and comparison of their functional properties from different solvent extracts
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This study identified and quantified hydrolysable tannins (HTs) in Terminalia ferdinandiana Exell (Kakadu plum) fruit, freeze dried powder extracted with 80% aqueous acetone (AA) and 80% aqueous acidified ethanol (AAE), using UHPLC–Q/Orbitrap/MS/MS. The vitamin C and ellagic acid were quantified by UHPLC-PDA. A total of seven HTs were identified: corilagin, 3,4,6-tri-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose, elaeocarpusin, chebulinic acid, chebulagic acid, helioscopin B, and punicalagin, with five classified as ellagitannins. The two extracts AA and AAE, comprised of gallic acid (2.5 and 2.2 mg/g DW), punicalagins α and β (2.8 and 1.3 mg/g DW), respectively, and both contained ellagic acid (∼ 4 g/100 g DW). These extracts showed high antioxidant properties and strong antimicrobial effects against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolate, Staphylococcus aureus, and Shewanella putrefaciens. These results suggest that Kakadu plum fruit is a rich, edible source of ellagitannins, ellagic acid and vitamin C with potential applications in food, cosmetic and nutraceutical industries.
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... Vitamin C is a powerful reducing agent found in many foods in variable contents. For instance, a fifty fold vitamin C is found in wild fruit when compared to ordinary oranges [18]. The antioxidant properties of vitamin C are believed to improve immunity as well as prevent other ailments such as cardiovascular diseases and aging. ...
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Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is declared as pandemic by the World Health Orgnazation (WHO) on March 2020. One of the heavily utilized measures during this pandemic is vitamin C (aka ascorbic acid). Unfortunately, vitamin C has been associated with glucose measurement interference and thus this study highlights the elevated levels of blood glucose correlated with the presence of vitamin C interference. Methodology: Thirty samples were selected randomly and the blood glucose were measured prior and post the addition of spiked standard concentrations of vitamin C. The interference of vitamin C with glucose readings in COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated and observed employing the Auto Chemistry Analyzer machine. Results: The addition of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) standards (spikes) into the isolated samples shows a correlated increment in the reading measures. Thereafter, the increments of Random Blood Sugar (RBS) readings after being spiked with the vitamin C standards shows a logarithmic correlation with good interesting R-squared (R2 = 0.9921). Conclusions: The authors find that the presence of vitamin C in blood actively and significantly alters the glucose level readings especially with the highly consumption of vitamin C during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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... Vitamin C was remarkably high in Physalis peruviana (0.225 g/100 g) which makes the vegetable a better source of the vitamin C compared to guava (0.188 g) and orange (0.07 g) fruits as well as some leafy vegetables such as broccoli (0.039 g) (Brand et al., 1982). (Nordeide et al., 1996). ...
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Composition of Hawaii Fruits
Article
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Analysis of nutrient content of fruits was presented, with emphasis on ascorbic acid content. Data on content per 100 g edible portion, the percentage of edible portion, and changes in ascorbic acid levels over fruit ripening were given.
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The nutritional composition of Aboriginal bushfoods
  • Jan 1981
  • 170
  • Jc Brand
  • C Shelley
  • J Mcdonnell
  • A Lee
Brand JC, Shelley C, McDonnell J, Lee A. The nutritional composition of Aboriginal bushfoods. Proc Nutrition Soc Aust 1981; 6:170.