What drink is high in vitamin C?

A glass of bottled apple juice can carry 95.5mg of vitamin C, and almost none of it comes from the apples.

That's the twist in any honest answer to what drink is high in vitamin C. Fresh orange juice is the everyday benchmark at 124mg per cup, yet several of the juices that rival it get there with ascorbic acid added during manufacturing.

Here's which drinks genuinely deliver, how to read the label, and why the added kind is fine for most people but a real question for a few.

Table of Contents

1. What Drink Is High in Vitamin C? The Short Answer
2. Same Juice, 43 Times the Vitamin C
3. Added Vitamin C Works. Its Source Is Another Question.
4. How Fast a Carton Loses Its Vitamin C
5. The Sugar Trade-Off
6. When a Drink Isn't Enough
7. A Corn-Free Vitamin C You Can Stir Into a Drink
8. Frequently Asked Questions
9. Conclusion
10. Research References

1. What Drink Is High in Vitamin C? The Short Answer

Any answer to what drink is high in vitamin C starts with what "high" means. On a US label, a food or drink counts as a high source when one serving provides at least 20% of the 90mg Daily Value, which works out to 18mg. Three-quarters of a cup of orange juice clears that five times over at 93mg, and the same amount of grapefruit juice delivers 70mg. For a wider view, USDA's reference database lists these values per cup:

• Raw acerola juice: 3,872mg
• Canned tomato juice: 170mg
• Fresh-squeezed orange juice: 124mg
• Chilled carton orange juice: 83.7mg

Acerola is the outlier because the fruit itself holds 1,500–4,500mg of vitamin C per 100g, roughly 50–100 times as much as an orange. Tomato juice is the one to double-check: the NIH puts it at 33mg per ¾ cup, far below USDA's canned entry, so the label on the bottle you're holding is the figure to trust.

The 18mg bar is low enough that less obvious drinks clear it too: ready-to-drink coconut water lists 24.3mg per cup. The useful question isn't whether a drink qualifies, but how much a normal glass adds to your day.

2. Same Juice, 43 Times the Vitamin C

Several of the biggest numbers on the juice aisle come from a single added ingredient: ascorbic acid, the chemical name for vitamin C. USDA lists bottled, unsweetened apple juice at 95.5mg per cup with added ascorbic acid and 2.2mg without, which means about 98% of the fortified figure was put in during manufacturing. The same gap runs through the other paired entries in USDA's database, per cup:

• Pineapple juice: 109.5mg with added ascorbic acid, 25.0mg without
• Peach nectar: 43.8mg with, 13.2mg without
• Apricot nectar: 44.2mg with, 1.5mg without
• Cranberry juice cocktail: 90.8mg, nearly four times the 23.5mg in unsweetened 100% cranberry juice

At the extreme, the same database lists a fruit-flavoured drink containing less than 3% juice at 59.5mg per cup, two-thirds of the Daily Value from a drink that's barely fruit. In the US, the NIH notes that labels have to list vitamin C when it has been added, so the quickest check is the ingredient list: "ascorbic acid" or "vitamin C" there means part or all of the number was added, not grown.

Manufacturers add ascorbic acid as a nutrient, as an antioxidant preservative, or both. In a study of 20 blood-orange drink brands sold in Italy, it was added to most of them, vitamin C levels bore no relation to how much blood-orange juice each drink contained, and among drinks that declared a vitamin C figure, most held more than their labels stated while three held less. The authors suggest the higher readings may reflect producers declaring a cautious minimum, so a fortified drink's label figure is an estimate, not a measurement.

3. Added Vitamin C Works. Its Source Is Another Question.

Your body doesn't treat added vitamin C as second-rate. In a controlled study of 68 men, vitamin C from orange juice, orange segments, cooked broccoli and synthetic tablets was equally bioavailable, with raw broccoli the exception at 20% lower. The NIH reaches the same conclusion, rating supplemental ascorbic acid as bioavailable as the vitamin C naturally present in orange juice and broccoli.

Where that ascorbic acid comes from is a different matter. Industrial production extracts glucose from corn, wheat or molasses, converts it to sorbitol and runs it through a two-step fermentation, and a 2020 cost analysis priced corn, the cheapest of those feedstocks, at about USD 146 a tonne against USD 232 for wheat. Cheap inputs tend to win, which makes corn a likely source for much of the added vitamin C in drinks, but the research doesn't put a number on its share.

The label won't settle it. US law requires allergen labelling for nine major foods, including wheat and soybeans, and corn isn't one of them, so a fortified drink doesn't have to say what its vitamin C was made from. For most people that's a non-issue; if you manage a corn allergy or sensitivity, you'd need to ask the manufacturer, and our guide to corn-free vitamin C covers what to ask.

4. How Fast a Carton Loses Its Vitamin C

Vitamin C oxidises as juice sits, so the database number and the number in your glass can drift apart. USDA lists fresh-squeezed orange juice at 124mg per cup and chilled carton juice at 83.7mg, about a third less, and bottled lime juice at 15.7mg against 72.6mg for fresh.

Arizona State University researchers measured how fast that happens: once opened, every juice they tested lost vitamin C at about 2% a day. Ready-to-drink juices held 27–65mg per cup at opening and 0–25mg by their expiry date four weeks later, less than the 70mg in a single medium orange, while juice made from frozen concentrate started at 86mg. The data dates from 2002, so read it as a direction, not a reading for today's cartons, and use what the study suggests:

• Buy ready-to-drink juice 3–4 weeks before its expiry date
• Finish an opened carton within 1 week
• Frozen concentrate, mixed as you need it, still held 39–46mg per cup after 4 weeks

5. The Sugar Trade-Off

Juice brings its fruit's sugar along with its vitamin C. The World Health Organization classes the sugar in fruit juice as free sugar, the same category as added sugar, and recommends keeping free sugars below 10% of daily energy; sugar inside whole fruit doesn't count toward that limit.

Long-term data points the same way. In three large US cohorts of health professionals, drinking fruit juice once a day or more was linked to a 17% higher risk of type 2 diabetes than drinking it less than once a week, after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking, physical activity and overall diet quality. Swapping three weekly servings of juice for whole fruit was associated with a 5% lower risk, according to the journal's published correction.

These are associations from observational studies, not proof that juice causes diabetes, but they support a simple rule: keep the glass small and let whole fruit do most of the work. Three-quarters of a cup of orange juice already supplies 103% of the Daily Value, and our guide to foods high in vitamin C shows how whole fruit and vegetables cover the same ground.

6. When a Drink Isn't Enough

At everyday intakes of 30–180mg a day, your body absorbs 70–90% of the vitamin C you take in, so the vitamin C in a glass of juice isn't wasted. Above 1g a day, absorption falls below 50% and the surplus is excreted in urine, a ceiling explained in our guide to why most of your vitamin C dose is wasted.

Most people meet their vitamin C needs from food and drink, but the NIH lists groups more likely to fall short: people who smoke (who need 35mg a day more), people with limited food variety, and people with malabsorption conditions. For anyone aiming at supplement-level amounts, juice stops being practical: 500mg from fresh-squeezed orange juice would take about four cups, based on USDA's 124mg per cup, along with the sugar that comes with them.

Delivery format is the lever at that end of the scale. A 2025 scoping review of 10 trials found that liposomal vitamin C produced 1.3–7.2 times higher blood exposure (AUC) than standard forms in nine of them, which is why Bio Absorb Nutraceuticals uses liposomal delivery. The same review found no study that measured elimination and just two that assessed biological effects, so the absorption advantage is well documented while a health-outcome advantage hasn't been shown; our complete guide to liposomal vitamin C walks through that evidence.

7. A Corn-Free Vitamin C You Can Stir Into a Drink

If the sourcing question in section 3 matters to you, Bio Absorb Nutraceuticals answers it directly: its Liposomal Vitamin C Liquid 1000mg (Corn-Free) is verified corn-free, not assumed to be. It's GMO-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and vegan, made in Canada in a GMP-certified facility, and has a natural orange flavour that mixes into water or juice, though water keeps the extra sugar out.

For days when a drink isn't practical, the Liposomal Vitamin C Capsules 1000mg (Corn-Free) share the corn-free formulation, need no refrigeration and have no taste. Both formats are third-party tested every batch and covered by a money-back guarantee. Liposomal delivery addresses how much you absorb at supplement doses, while verified corn-free status addresses where the vitamin C comes from; the two solve different problems.

Neither replaces orange juice or whole fruit, and at everyday intakes most people don't need either; they earn a place when you want more vitamin C than drinks sensibly provide, or when an undisclosed corn source is the problem. Keep your total intake under the 2,000mg adult upper limit, and check with your physician before supplementing if you have kidney disease, a history of kidney stones or haemochromatosis, or take regular medication. See current pricing and serving details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is orange juice the highest vitamin C drink?

It's the everyday benchmark: fresh-squeezed orange juice lists 124mg per cup in USDA's database, ahead of fresh grapefruit juice at 93.9mg. Raw acerola juice is far higher, and canned tomato juice and several fortified juices can match or beat carton orange juice on the label, so check the ingredient list for added ascorbic acid.

Does lemonade or lemon water count as high in vitamin C?

Raw lemon juice is rich at 94.4mg per cup, but lemonade dilutes it heavily: a ready-to-drink lemonade lists 7.4mg per 8 fl oz, about 8% of the Daily Value. Lemon water depends on how much lemon you squeeze in, and our look at whether hot water destroys vitamin C in lemon covers what heat does to it.

Are vitamin waters a good source of vitamin C?

They can be: USDA lists a sweetened vitamin-enhanced water at 30.1mg per 8 fl oz, about a third of the Daily Value. The added vitamin C is absorbed as well as the natural kind, so the real trade-offs are the sugar and a source the label doesn't have to name.

How much juice do I need to meet the RDA for vitamin C?

The RDA is 90mg a day for men and 75mg for women, and three-quarters of a cup of orange juice provides 93mg, enough for either. People who smoke need an extra 35mg a day, which takes the amount closer to a full cup. If you'd rather eat the fruit, our answer to whether one orange a day is enough vitamin C works through the same question for whole oranges.

Can you get too much vitamin C from drinks?

From ordinary juices it's unlikely, but the 2,000mg adult upper limit applies to food and supplements combined, and a cup of raw acerola juice carries 3,872mg. If you have kidney disease, a history of kidney stones or haemochromatosis, or take regular medication, talk to your physician before adding high-vitamin C drinks or supplements.

Is the vitamin C added to juice made from corn?

It can be. Industrial ascorbic acid is fermented from glucose, and a 2020 cost analysis found corn the cheapest of the feedstocks manufacturers use, at about USD 146 a tonne. US labels don't have to name the source, so if you avoid corn, ask the manufacturer or see our guide to corn-free vitamin C.

Conclusion

The practical answer to what drink is high in vitamin C is fresh orange juice for everyday drinking, at 124mg per cup, with acerola far ahead and several fortified juices close behind on the strength of added ascorbic acid. Read the ingredient list, finish opened cartons quickly, and let whole fruit do most of the work. If you want supplemental vitamin C from a verified corn-free source that mixes into water or juice, see the current details for Bio Absorb's Liposomal Vitamin C Liquid 1000mg (Corn-Free).

Research References

1. Stability of ascorbic acid in commercially available orange juices. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Vol. 102, No. 4 (2002), pp. 525–529. Found that opened orange juices lost vitamin C at about 2% a day, with ready-to-drink juices falling from 27–65mg per cup at opening to 0–25mg at expiry.
2. The bioavailability to humans of ascorbic acid from oranges, orange juice and cooked broccoli is similar to that of synthetic ascorbic acid. The Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 123, No. 6 (1993), pp. 1054–1061. Depletion–repletion study in 68 men showing vitamin C from orange juice, orange segments, cooked broccoli and synthetic tablets was equally bioavailable, with raw broccoli 20% lower.
3. Fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective longitudinal cohort studies. BMJ, Vol. 347 (2013), f5001; corrected in f6935. Corrected results linking fruit juice once a day or more to a 17% higher risk of type 2 diabetes, and replacing juice with whole fruit to a 5% lower risk.
4. Acerola, an untapped functional superfruit: a review on latest frontiers. Journal of Food Science and Technology, Vol. 55, No. 9 (2018), pp. 3373–3384. Review reporting 1,500–4,500mg of ascorbic acid per 100g of acerola, roughly 50–100 times orange or lemon.
5. Contribution of Blood Orange-Based Beverages to Bioactive Compounds Intake. Frontiers in Chemistry, Vol. 6, Article 374 (2018). Analysis of 20 blood-orange drink brands sold in Italy, finding ascorbic acid added to most and vitamin C levels unrelated to blood-orange juice content.
6. Process design and economic studies of two-step fermentation for production of ascorbic acid. SN Applied Sciences, Vol. 2, Article 816 (2020). Identifies corn, wheat, molasses and D-sorbitol as feedstocks for industrial ascorbic acid, with corn the cheapest at USD 146 per tonne.
7. Do Liposomal Vitamin C Formulations Have Improved Bioavailability? A Scoping Review Identifying Future Research Directions. Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, Vol. 137, Issue 1 (2025), e70067. Found 1.3–7.2-fold higher AUC for liposomal vitamin C in nine of ten trials, with no data on elimination and two studies of biological effects.
8. Vitamin C — Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements (2025). Source for the Daily Value, the high-source threshold, juice values, absorption rates, RDAs and the 2,000mg upper limit.
9. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 28: Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid, foods ordered by nutrient content. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2015). Source for per-cup values of acerola, orange, grapefruit, tomato, pineapple, cranberry, lime and other drinks, including fortified and unfortified pairs.
10. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 28: Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid, foods ordered by name. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2015). Source for apple juice and apricot nectar with and without added ascorbic acid.
11. Guideline: Sugars Intake for Adults and Children. World Health Organization (2015). Recommends keeping free sugars, which include the sugars in fruit juice, below 10% of daily energy.
12. The FASTER Act: Sesame Is the Ninth Major Food Allergen. US Food and Drug Administration (2024). Lists the nine major food allergens that US labels are required to declare; corn is not among them.

About the Author

David Kimbell is a health writer, digital entrepreneur and former aerospace engineer, based in Ottawa, Canada. He loves translating complex science into clear, actionable guidance for consumers seeking evidence-based solutions.

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Important Disclaimers

Medical Disclaimer: This article provides educational information only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, especially if you have existing health conditions, take medications, or are pregnant or nursing.

FDA/Health Canada Statement: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration or Health Canada. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.