What vitamin is also called ascorbic acid?

The vitamin also called ascorbic acid is Vitamin C. It is a water-soluble nutrient that humans must obtain from food because the human body cannot make enough of it on its own.

Vitamin C is essential for collagen formation, tissue repair, normal enzyme activity, and healthy immune-system function. It also acts as an antioxidant. Citrus fruits are famous sources, but peppers, berries, tomatoes, broccoli, and many other fruits and vegetables provide it as well.

The name “ascorbic” comes from the vitamin’s ability to prevent scurvy: the prefix “a-” means away from, while “scorbutic” relates to scurvy. Vitamin C was isolated in 1928, and it became the first vitamin to be chemically produced in 1933. Albert Szent-Györgyi received the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine partly for work connected with its discovery. Large supplemental doses can cause gastrointestinal discomfort, so more is not automatically better.