What Does the ‘C’ in Vitamin C Stand For?

When you think of vitamin C, one of the first things that comes to mind is likely an orange — or perhaps, if you’re feeling exotic, a grapefruit or pineapple — since they’re some of the nutrient’s most common sources. 

So it would only make sense that the “C” in vitamin C stands for citrus, right? But actually, it doesn’t. In fact, it doesn’t stand for anything at all. So where is the “C” coming from?

The Discovery and Naming of Vitamins

Historically speaking, vitamins were discovered fairly recently. While doctors and scientists had some idea that a lack of certain foods could cause illness — for instance, that citrus fruits helped fight off scurvy — it wasn’t until 1912 that a biochemist named Casimir Funk found that a lack of distinct nitrogen-containing compounds led to certain diseases. 

Funk named his discovery “vitamine,” combining the Latin word for “life” with “amine,” which is the name of a compound that contains nitrogen — it wasn’t until later that it was shortened to just “vitamin.” 

The nutrient Funk discovered was thiamine, but shortly after he did, other similarly vital compounds were isolated, leading to a naming system in which vitamins were labeled alphabetically in the order they were discovered. Some of the earliest vitamins to be discovered, therefore, were vitamins A, B, and C — though ironically thiamine, which Funk had found before the naming system was implemented, would come to be known as B1 rather than A. 

The reason there are so many B vitamins, including B3, B6, and B12, is that vitamin B was originally thought to be a single substance. It’s not though, as it’s eight different water-soluble vitamins, which were then numbered in order of their discovery. Later, some substances, such as adenine and salicylic acid, were deemed to be not technically vitamins, which is why today some B vitamins are “missing” from the lineup, such as B4 and B11. 

Additionally, the naming system goes straight from vitamin E to vitamin K. That’s because the Danish scientist who discovered what would have been Vitamin F suggested naming it K instead, since it was essential for blood coagulation — a word that starts with K in Scandinavian and German languages. 

So depending on how you look at it, the name Vitamin C is either oversimplified or overly complicated.

Why We Need Vitamin C

Whatever we call it, it’s indisputable that we need vitamin C as part of our diets. The specific chemical that became vitamin C is L-ascorbic acid, and is a water-soluble compound made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), vitamin C is an antioxidant that, among other benefits, helps protect our cells from damage from free radicals, makes collagen, improves iron absorption from plant-based foods, and helps our immune system function. While most animals can produce their own vitamin C, humans can’t, which is why it’s such an important part of our diet.

Some of the easiest ways to work vitamin C into your diet are by eating fruits and vegetables with high concentrations of it, such as oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, broccoli, baked potatoes, and more, or through a supplement. 

Adults should typically avoid consuming more than 2,000 milligrams per day to avoid the risk of digestive issues, though. That’s because vitamin C is a perfect example of how you can have too much of a good thing.