Why is there sodium in my vitamin c?

Question

i bought vitamin c supplements.and im just wondering why is there sodium in the ingredient.what does it do?

vitamin c 500 mg 833%

sodium 4%

Answer 1

I'm guessing the sodium is used as a binding agent to keep the tablet together.

Answer 2

The sodium neutralises the acidity of vitamin C.  Vitamin C is ascorbic acid and you can get it in the free acid form if you don't mind the acidity.  Na ascorbate is the sodium salt of ascorbic acid and this is probably the most common form of vitamin C.  Probably the best form of vitamin C is the calcium salt and that is calcium ascorbate which contains about 90% of vitamin C and 10% of calcium.  The extra calcium is very good for you and is much better for you than the extra sodium in sodium ascorbate.

The 833% that you have quoted means that 500 mg of vitamin C is 8.33 times what you need in a day (about 60 mg).  The sodium content in sodium ascorbate is 4%.