NOW FOODS ASCORBIC ACID POWDER – 3 LB (Pure Vitamin C Crystals)
Item SKU: N0792 | UPC: 733739007926 | Net Weight: 3 Pounds (48 oz / 1,361 g) | Brand: NOW Foods
Looking for pure, unadulterated Vitamin C without artificial additives, flow agents, or hefty capsule markups? NOW Foods Ascorbic Acid Powder delivers 100% pure, pharmaceutical-grade crystalline Vitamin C in an economical 3-pound bulk container. Whether you want to fortify your daily immune defense, support healthy collagen production for skin and joints, or personalize your daily antioxidant intake, this fine crystalline powder dissolves smoothly in water or fresh juice to give your body bioavailable, cellular-level nourishment.
Why Pure Ascorbic Acid Crystals Outperform Off-the-Shelf Pills
100% Active Vitamin C: Every single grain is pure L-ascorbic acid with zero binders, magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide, or gelatin coatings.
Unbeatable Cost-Per-Gram: With over 600 full servings per 3 lb tub, you avoid paying for capsule manufacturing and single-use plastic bottles.
Customizable Dosing: Easily scale your intake from a mild 500 mg boost to higher therapeutic servings without having to swallow a handful of oversized tablets.
Risk-Free Guarantee: Backed by VitaNet, LLC's family-owned heritage and unconditional 100% money-back guarantee, which covers return shipping even on opened items[cite: 1].
✓ 100% Pure USP/FCC Grade✓ Non-GMO & Vegan✓ Zero Excipients or Fillers✓ ISO 17025 Lab-Tested
What Is Ascorbic Acid Powder? (In Plain English)
Ascorbic acid is simply the scientific name for pure Vitamin C. In nature, Vitamin C is found in fresh citrus fruits, berries, peppers, and green vegetables. When you see L-ascorbic acid on a laboratory report, it refers to the biologically active molecular form of Vitamin C that your body recognizes, absorbs, and uses inside your cells.
Unlike most animals, humans lack a key liver enzyme called L-gulonolactone oxidase. Because our bodies cannot synthesize Vitamin C internally, we must obtain it every day through what we eat and drink. Furthermore, because Vitamin C is completely water-soluble, your body does not store large reserves in body fat like it does with Vitamins A, D, and E. Any amount your body doesn't use within a few hours is naturally cleared out through your kidneys, which is why regular, steady replenishment is vital (National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, 2025).
NOW Foods Ascorbic Acid Powder is a fine, crystalline powder that dissolves much faster in liquids than coarse regular crystals. It contains zero synthetic sweeteners, coloring agents, or anti-caking additives, giving you pure nutrition in its simplest and most bioavailable format.
NOW Foods Quality: Advanced Lab Testing & Strict Contaminant Limits
When you buy pure bulk vitamins, purity and safety are the top priorities. Many low-cost online powders are imported without rigorous oversight and can carry hidden contaminants like lead, cadmium, industrial solvents, or bacterial microbes. NOW Foods maintains one of the most advanced private analytical testing complexes in the entire natural products industry, operating over 16,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratory facilities in Bloomingdale, Illinois, and Sparks, Nevada.
How NOW Verifies Every Batch of Ascorbic Acid Powder:
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Accredited In-House Laboratories: NOW's internal testing laboratories are formally accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). This international certification confirms that testing methods meet the same rigorous technical standards used by pharmaceutical and government forensic labs.
ICP-MS Heavy Metal Screening: Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), NOW tests for toxic heavy metals down to ultra-trace parts-per-billion (ppb) levels. Raw ingredients are strictly screened for:
Lead (Pb)
Arsenic (As)
Cadmium (Cd)
Mercury (Hg)
NOW holds finished lots to strict contaminant constraints that consistently meet or exceed the world's most demanding safety standards, including California Proposition 65 action levels and United States Pharmacopeia (USP) safety limits.
HPLC & FTIR Molecular Verification: Every incoming lot is analyzed using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) fingerprinting and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to confirm 100% chemical identity and guarantee the powder matches official USP and Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) monographs.
Comprehensive Microbiology Screening: Batches are evaluated to ensure total safety against biological pathogens, testing clean for E. coli, Salmonella species, Staphylococcus aureus, coliforms, yeasts, and molds.
NPA A-Rated cGMP Certification: Packaged in an FDA-registered manufacturing facility certified under Current Good Manufacturing Practices (21 CFR Part 111) and independently audited by Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
By controlling testing in-house with accredited analytical instrumentation, NOW Foods ensures that what is listed on the label is exactly what is inside your container—with zero hidden adulterants.
Complete Ingredient Listing & Supplement Facts
Every batch is verified against the manufacturer's official master formula. This product contains one pure ingredient with no hidden carriers or excipients.
Supplement Facts
Serving Size: 1/2 Level Teaspoon (approx. 2.25 g)
Servings Per Container: about 605
Amount Per Serving
% Daily Value
Vitamin C (as Ascorbic Acid) 2.25 g (2,250 mg)
2,500%*
* The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Complete Ingredients: Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid).
Other Ingredients: None.
Allergen Free-From Statement: Not manufactured with wheat, gluten, soy, milk, egg, fish, shellfish, or tree nut ingredients. Produced in a GMP facility that processes other ingredients containing these allergens.
Ascorbic acid plays a role in hundreds of biological processes throughout the body every day. When you maintain optimal Vitamin C levels, you support essential body functions:
✓ First-Line Immune Support
Vitamin C concentrates heavily inside white blood cells (phagocytes and T-cells). It stimulates immune cell movement, enhances the destruction of unwanted microbes, and shields immune cells from oxidative self-destruction during physical stress (Carr & Maggini, Nutrients, 2017).
✓ Collagen Building & Joint Health
Your body cannot manufacture collagen without Vitamin C. It serves as an essential co-factor for the enzymes prolyl hydroxylase and lysyl hydroxylase, which stabilize collagen triple-helix fibers that give strength to your skin, tendons, cartilage, gums, and blood vessels.
✓ Broad-Spectrum Cellular Defense
As one of your body's primary water-soluble antioxidants, ascorbic acid donates electrons to neutralize destructive reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals generated by normal cellular metabolism, rigorous exercise, and environmental toxins like air pollution.
✓ Enhanced Dietary Iron Absorption
Taking ascorbic acid alongside meals significantly enhances the bio-absorption of non-heme iron (the plant-based iron found in spinach, beans, and grains) by reducing ferric iron into the more soluble and easily absorbed ferrous form.
The Science of Absorption: Why Splitting Doses Works Best
A common misconception about Vitamin C is that swallowing massive doses all at once delivers equal health benefits. In clinical pharmacokinetic studies, researchers at the National Institutes of Health discovered that human intestinal absorption of Vitamin C is tightly regulated by specialized intestinal transport proteins known as SVCT1 (Sodium-Dependent Vitamin C Transporters) (Levine et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1996).
The Intestinal Absorption Curve (NIH Clinical Data):
At a single dose of 100 mg to 200 mg: Absorption is nearly complete (approximately 80% to 90%).
At a single dose of 500 mg: Absorption remains high, reaching systemic circulation efficiently.
At a single dose of 1,000 mg (1.0 g): Absorption drops to approximately 50%, with the unabsorbed portion passing downward through the digestive tract.
At single doses over 2,000 mg to 3,000 mg: Absorption drops substantially, and excess unabsorbed acid pulls water into the colon via osmosis, which can cause loose stools or digestive rumbling.
Smart Usage Advice: Instead of taking a full 2,250 mg (1/2 teaspoon) all at once, consider splitting your daily intake into smaller portions—such as 1/4 level teaspoon (approx. 1,100 mg) mixed into water twice a day with meals. Splitting your servings keeps blood levels steady throughout the day while minimizing gastrointestinal upset.
How to Take Ascorbic Acid Powder (And Protect Your Teeth)
Pure ascorbic acid has a naturally sharp, tart citrus flavor similar to unsweetened lemon juice, with a liquid pH around 2.5 to 3.0. To enjoy all the benefits of pure powder while caring for your digestive tract and tooth enamel, follow these practical steps:
1. Mixing & Dissolving
Stir 1/4 to 1/2 level teaspoon into 6 to 8 ounces of cold water, freshly squeezed orange juice, tomato juice, or an unsweetened fruit smoothie. Because NOW uses fine crystalline powder, it dissolves in seconds with a quick stir.
2. Tooth Enamel Protection
Because pure ascorbic acid is acidic, regular direct contact with teeth can temporarily soften enamel over time.
• Drink your mixture through a stainless steel, silicone, or glass straw to bypass your teeth.
• Swallow promptly without swishing the liquid around your mouth.
• Rinse your mouth thoroughly with plain water immediately after finishing.
• Crucial tip: Wait at least 30 minutes before brushing your teeth with a toothbrush to let your saliva naturally re-harden and remineralize your enamel.
3. Sensitive Stomach? Make Instant Buffered Vitamin C
If you experience mild acid reflux or stomach sensitivity with pure ascorbic acid, you can easily neutralize the acidity right in your glass. Add a pinch of pure baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to your dissolved ascorbic acid powder in water. The liquid will effervesce and fizz as the acid reacts with the mineral, neutralizing the tartness to an easy-drinking neutral pH (~7.0) and creating freshly buffered sodium ascorbate.
Safety Guidelines, Upper Limits & Who Should Not Take It
Vitamin C has a well-documented safety profile in clinical literature. However, responsible supplementation means respecting established biological boundaries and understanding potential health interactions.
The Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL): 2,000 mg / Day
The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Medicine established 2,000 mg (2.0 g) per day as the official Tolerable Upper Intake Level for healthy adults (Institute of Medicine, 2000). This ceiling was not set due to organ toxicity, but rather because single doses exceeding this threshold can trigger osmotic diarrhea, stomach cramping, or loose stools as unabsorbed acid draws water into the lower bowel.
Important Health Warnings & Precautions:
History of Calcium Oxalate Kidney Stones: When your body metabolizes Vitamin C, a portion is naturally converted into oxalate. In individuals prone to forming calcium oxalate kidney stones, long-term daily intakes exceeding 1,000 mg to 2,000 mg have been associated with increased urinary oxalate levels and elevated stone formation risk in observational trials (Thomas et al., JAMA Intern Med, 2013). If you have a personal or family history of kidney stones or chronic kidney disease, consult your nephrologist or physician before taking high-dose Vitamin C.
Iron Overload Disorders (Hemochromatosis): Because ascorbic acid significantly enhances dietary iron absorption, individuals diagnosed with hemochromatosis, thalassemia, or sideroblastic anemia should avoid supplemental Vitamin C unless closely monitored by their physician.
G6PD Deficiency: People with a rare genetic deficiency in the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) should not take high supplemental doses of ascorbic acid, as excessive amounts can provoke oxidative stress and red blood cell breakdown (hemolysis).
Medical Laboratory Tests: High doses of supplemental Vitamin C can alter the analytical accuracy of certain clinical lab tests, including blood glucose monitor test strips and stool occult blood tests. Be sure to inform your healthcare provider of your supplement routine before undergoing diagnostic testing.
Pure crystalline ascorbic acid is a delicate molecule that degrades when exposed to moisture, light, heat, and air. To keep your 3-pound bulk supply fresh and potent through the very last serving:
What Fresh Vitamin C Looks Like
Fresh, fully potent ascorbic acid powder is brilliant white to pale off-white, free-flowing, and completely dry, with a sharp, clean tart flavor and little to no distinct odor.
Signs of Degraded or Oxidized Powder
If ascorbic acid is exposed to humidity or excessive heat, it oxidizes into dehydroascorbic acid and eventually breaks down into diketogulonic acid. If your powder turns yellow, orange, or amber-brown, clumps into hard rocks, or develops a stale burnt smell, it has lost its potency and should be replaced.
Best Storage Practices:
Keep the original plastic tub tightly sealed in a cool, dark kitchen cabinet or pantry (ideal temperature 59°F–77°F / 15°C–25°C).
Always use a clean, completely dry measuring spoon. Never scoop with damp fingers or a wet utensil.
Do not refrigerate: Taking the tub in and out of a cold refrigerator causes warm room air to condense inside the bottle, speeding up clumping and oxidation.
Why Order from VitaNet, LLC? (Serving You Online Since 1995)
When you order nutritional supplements online, who you buy from matters just as much as what brand you select. VitaNet, LLC is an independent, family-owned discount retailer proudly founded in 1995[cite: 1]. Operating out of Hartville, Ohio, our team brings over 31 years of direct hands-on industry experience and nutritional supplement expertise to every order[cite: 1].
The VitaNet Difference:
Unconditional 100% Money-Back Guarantee: We stand fully behind every product we sell[cite: 1]. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, we provide a full refund and even pay the return shipping cost—whether the container has been opened or remains sealed[cite: 1].
BBB A+ Accredited Business: We hold an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, representing decades of honest dealing, accurate inventory descriptions, and reliable customer service[cite: 1].
Direct, Helpful Customer Service: Real supplement professionals are ready to assist you by phone at (330) 877-8786 or toll-free at 1-800-877-8702 during regular business hours[cite: 1].
Fresh Inventory & Competitive Value: By working directly with trusted manufacturers like NOW Foods, we offer competitive everyday discount pricing across more than 16,000 brand-name products without passing on middlemen markups[cite: 1].
Comparison: Pure Powder vs. Tablets vs. Buffered Vitamin C
Choosing the right format of Vitamin C depends on your digestive tolerance, daily dosage goals, and budget. Here is how NOW Foods 3 lb Ascorbic Acid Powder compares against other popular forms:
Feature
NOW Ascorbic Acid Powder (3 lb)
Standard Vitamin C Tablets (1,000 mg)
Buffered Vitamin C (Mineral Ascorbates)
Ingredients & Purity
100% Pure L-Ascorbic Acid (Zero fillers)
Ascorbic acid plus binders, silica, cellulose, stearates
Ascorbic acid bound to calcium, magnesium, or sodium
Cost Per Gram
Lowest cost per gram (bulk savings)
Moderate to high (paying for tableting)
Higher cost due to mineral processing
Stomach Acidity
Tart/Acidic (pH ~2.5–3.0); can be buffered at home
Acidic; slow dissolution in stomach
Non-acidic / Neutral pH (~7.0); gentler on empty stomachs
Ease of Use
Dissolves quickly in water or juice
Large pills can be difficult to swallow
Available in powder or capsules
Dosage Flexibility
Completely adjustable to the exact milligram
Fixed at 500 mg or 1,000 mg increments
Fixed or limited by mineral balance
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is ascorbic acid the same thing as natural Vitamin C?
Yes. L-ascorbic acid is the exact chemical name for Vitamin C. Whether extracted from citrus fruits or produced through pharmaceutical-grade fermentation, the molecule is bio-identical and utilized by human cells through the exact same metabolic pathways.
How much ascorbic acid powder should I take each day?
The suggested serving on the label is 1/2 level teaspoon (approx. 2.25 grams / 2,250 mg) 1 to 3 times daily, mixed in water or fruit juice. However, clinical studies show that taking smaller servings—such as 1/4 level teaspoon (approx. 1,100 mg) two times per day with meals—optimizes blood absorption while reducing gastrointestinal sensitivity.
Can taking ascorbic acid powder cause stomach upset or loose stools?
If you take a very large dose all at once (generally over 2,000 mg to 3,000 mg), unabsorbed Vitamin C draws water into your lower intestine via osmosis, which can cause loose stools or cramping. This is commonly referred to as reaching "bowel tolerance." You can prevent this by lowering your individual dose, taking it with meals, or neutralizing the acidity with a pinch of baking soda.
Does ascorbic acid damage tooth enamel?
Because pure ascorbic acid is naturally tart and acidic (pH 2.5–3.0), repeated direct contact can temporarily soften dental enamel. To protect your teeth, drink your solution through a straw, rinse your mouth with plain water afterward, and wait at least 30 minutes before brushing your teeth.
How does NOW Foods test this powder for lead and heavy metals?
NOW Foods tests raw ingredients in its ISO/IEC 17025 accredited in-house laboratories using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). This instrument detects heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury down to parts-per-billion (ppb) concentrations, ensuring compliance with strict United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and California Proposition 65 standards.
Can I take high doses of Vitamin C if I have a history of kidney stones?
If you have a personal history of calcium oxalate kidney stones or impaired kidney function, you should consult your healthcare provider before taking high supplemental doses (above 1,000 mg daily). A portion of metabolized Vitamin C is converted into oxalate, which can increase urinary oxalate levels in susceptible individuals.
What is VitaNet's return policy if this product doesn't agree with me?
VitaNet, LLC offers an unconditional 100% money-back guarantee on all products[cite: 1]. If you are dissatisfied for any reason, VitaNet will refund your full purchase price and cover the cost of return shipping, even if the 3 lb container has already been opened[cite: 1].
