Practical investigations
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What is the average percentage of vitamin C in an ascorbic acid tablet?
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Igloo replies
I’m sure that the content of a vitamin C tablet varies according to the manufacturer. A tablet usually contains other ingredients such as citric acid, sodium hydrogencarbonate, sorbitol and colouring matter, as well as traces of insoluble fillers such as starch. A 5 g tablet typically contains 1 g of vitamin C, so this means that the percentage by mass is 20%. You would need to buy samples of different brands from a chemist’s and carry out your own investigation to get some idea of the “average”.
Risk assessment
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updated: 25 April 2008
