Ascorbic acid as radiation protector on polysaccharides used in food industry

l-Ascorbic acid or Vitamin C is a highly soluble compound that has both acidic and strong reducing properties. The natural form of the vitamin is the l-isomer; the d-isomer has about 10% of the activity of the l-isomer and is added to foods for nonvitamin purposes. Aside from its use as a vitamin, ascorbic acid or some derivatives are employed as antioxidants in foodstuffs, to prevent rancidity, browning of cut apples and other fruits and in meat curing. Radiation affects polysaccharides like carrageenan, widely used in food industry, modifying their rheological properties. In this work, ascorbic acid was used in order to verify their capability as radiation protector on irradiated polysaccharides. One percent aqueous solutions of this polysaccharide were prepared. Ascorbic acid was added to attain 5, 10, 15 and 20% (w/v) final concentrations. Co-60-irradiation was performed in a Gammacell 220 (AECL), dose rate about 5.2 kGy/h, with doses of 1.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 kGy. Radiation effects were followed by changes in the viscosity of irradiated solutions. Ascorbic acid presented a radioprotector behavior on carrageenan solutions and the radioprotective action of antioxidant Vitamin C was dependent upon their concentration.