While Ester-C®
brand mineral ascorbates have enjoyed great popularity as oral
vitamin C supplements, the product is sometimes confused with
vitamin C esters, such as ascorbyl palmitate and ascorbyl phosphates.
Some marketers have even tried to cause deliberate confusion
by calling their products "esterified" vitamin C,
in order to capitalize on the success of Ester-C®
ascorbates.
The family of Ester-C products does not contain chemical esters
(a specifictype of chemical bonding). The tradename Ester-C®
is not descriptive of the chemical composition of the principal
products. Ester-C®
is a mineral salt of ascorbic acid (i.e., calcium ascorbate)
plus vitamin C metabolites, such as threonate. The Ester-C®
mineral ascorbate/metabolite complex, which is the core ingredient
in many oral supplements, is protected by US Patent #4,822,816.
New Ester-C®
Topical for cosmetics is a solution of Ester-C®
mineral ascorbates in a polyglycol solvent. It contains no fatty
acid esters and was designed to be compatible with a wide variety
of oil/water emulsions used for cosmetics and topicals. Unlike
many other vitamin C products for cosmetic use, Ester-C®
Topical has been shown to have superior stability and to
deliver vitamin C well below the top layer of skin.
