Best Sources of Vitamin C on the Carnivore Diet

Animal-based food is not known as a rich source of vitamin C, however, it certainly contains enough vitamin C to protect you from scurvy.

This post provides an extensive list of sources of vitamin C on the carnivore diet and recommends the best sources of this essential nutrient.

Vitamin C’s roles in the human body
How much vitamin C do you need?
Sources of vitamin C on the carnivore diet
Best sources of vitamin C on the carnivore diet

Vitamin C’s roles in the human body

Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, is a natural water-soluble nutrient that plays many important functions in the human body. However, unlike many other animals, humans can’t make vitamin C endogenously and must obtain it from dietary sources. ^[1]

Vitamin C can be found in abundance in many plant-based foods such as oranges, lemons, berries, cherries, guavas, kiwis, bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, and kale.

Animal-based foods like meat, organ meat, seafood, and dairy are generally not known as a source of vitamin C but they do contain a sufficient level of vitamin C to prevent vitamin C deficiency and scurvy.

Vitamin C plays many important roles in the functioning of the human body.

Vitamin C is required in the biosynthesis of collagen (an important protein used in making skin, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels), L-carnitine, and neuropeptides. ^{[2, 3]}

Vitamin C aids in the absorption of nonheme iron and is also needed in repairing and maintaining cartilage, bones, and teeth as well as being involved in all stages of wound healing. ^{[4, 5, 6]}

Vitamin C protects the immune system and is widely known as a powerful antioxidant that helps neutralize free radicals, the build-up of which can lead to premature aging and many other diseases. ^{[7, 8]}

Vitamin C is an ingredient in many topical skin care products and there is some evidence supporting its effectiveness. ^[9]

How much vitamin C do you need?

The Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health currently recommends daily allowances (RDAs) for vitamin C as follows. ^[10]

Age	Male	Female	Pregnancy	Lactation
14–18 years	75 mg	65 mg	80 mg	115 mg
19+ years	90 mg	75 mg	85 mg	120 mg
Smokers	+35 mg/day	+35 mg/day	+35 mg/day	+35 mg/day

The above RDAs for adults are set “based on the vitamin C intake to maintain near-maximal neutrophil concentration with minimal urinary excretion of ascorbate” to provide antioxidant protection. ^[11]

According to the Office of Dietary Supplements, depending on the level of vitamin C the body stores, signs of scurvy can appear within one month of a vitamin C intake below 10 mg/day. That means as little as 10 mg of vitamin C a day is sufficient to prevent scurvy. ^[12]

Eating just muscle meat alone will give you enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy, but there are other animal-based foods that are relatively high in vitamin C (see in the section below) which will boost vitamin C intake a lot higher than the scurvy threshold.

We don’t know exactly how much vitamin C people on the carnivore diet would need for optimal health but it is likely that they would need a lot less than those who are on a carb-rich diet.

This is because vitamin C and glucose are known to compete for absorption. If you don’t eat carbs and processed sugar, you don’t need a lot of vitamin C because your body can absorb much better the little vitamin C that you consume. ^[13]

Sources of vitamin C on the carnivore diet

Below are the vitamin C contents of some animal-sourced foods divided into five food groups: ruminant, pork, poultry, seafood, and dairy.

Note that different testing samples will give different results but these should give you a good indication of the vitamin C levels in these food groups.

1. Ruminant

Ruminant organs are a great source of vitamin C.

Beef spleen seems to be the best source of vitamin C in this group.

A 100-gram serving of cooked beef spleen would deliver 50.3 mg of vitamin C equivalent to around 84% of the average recommended daily intake. ^[14]

In addition to being high in vitamin C, beef spleen is also very high in protein, iron, B12, copper, selenium, and phosphorous. ^[15]

Pancreas, lungs, brains, and kidneys are all very high in vitamin C as well, however, unfortunately, many of those organ meats are usually not available at the butcher and you may have to place a special order to get them.

Beef muscle has a much lower level of vitamin C compared to beef and lamb organ meat with just around 2 mg per 100-gram serving.^[16]

However, as mentioned above, just consuming muscle meat will give you enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy. Traditional groups subsisting on meat-based diets like the Arctic Inuit did not suffer from scurvy nor does the modern-day carnivore community. ^{[17, 18]}

Per 100 g	Vitamin C (mg)
Beef spleen (cooked, braised)	50.3
Veal thymus	49.2
Beef spleen	45.5
Veal spleen	41.0
Veal lungs	39.0
Beef lung	38.5
Beef lung (cooked, braised)	32.7
Lamb lungs	31.0
Lamb spleen	23.0
Beef pancreas (cooked, braised)	20.3
Lamb brain	16.0
Veal pancreas	16.0
Beef pancreas	13.7
Lamb kidney	11.0
Beef brain	10.7
Beef brain (cooked, simmered)	10.5
Beef kidney	9.4
Lamb heart	5.0
Lamb liver	4.0
Beef tongue	3.1
Grass-fed beef	2.5
Beef heart	2.0
Grain-fed beef	1.6
Beef liver	1.3

Sources: USDA nutrition data and Descalzo et al (2007)

It’s interesting that some cooked organs have a higher level of vitamin C than raw organs. This is probably due to the release of the juice during the cooking process that results in a more nutrient-dense food, gram for gram.

This also shows that, unlike what many people seem to believe (I used to as well), cooking appears to have little impact on the vitamin C content of food, at least in cooked meat. ^{[19, 20]}

2. Pork

Pork meat and organs are not as high in vitamin C as ruminant meat and organs but, similar to ruminants, pork organs are higher in vitamin C than pork muscle meat.

Per 100 g	Vitamin C (mg)
Pork spleen	28.5
Pork liver	25.3
Pork liver (cooked, braised)	23.6
Pork brain (cooked, braised)	14.0
Pork brain	13.5
Pork kidney	13.3
Pork lung	12.3
Pork heart	5.3
Pork leg	1.1
Pork sirloin	0.9
Pork shoulder	0.8
Ground pork	0.7
Pork belly	0.3

Sources: USDA nutrition data

3. Poultry

As can be seen in the table below, poultry organs are not as high in vitamin C as ruminant organs.

However, poultry meat (e.g. goose meat, quail meat, wild duck meat, chicken dark meat) has a higher level of vitamin C compared to ruminant muscle meat.

Per 100 g	Vitamin C (mg)
Chicken liver (cooked, simmered)	27.9
Turkey liver	24.5
Capon giblet	18.4
Chicken liver	17.9
Chicken giblet	16.2
Chicken giblet	13.1
Goose meat	7.2
Quail meat	7.2
Wild duck meat	6.2
Chicken dark meat	4.6
Chicken heart	3.2
Duck meat and skin	2.8
Chicken thigh	2.3
Lean chicken	1.2
Chicken wing	0.7

Sources: USDA nutrition data

4. Seafood

Some seafood contains a lot more vitamin C than ruminant, pork, and poultry muscle meat.

For example, fish roe, clam, and crab have 16, 13, and 7 mg per 100-gram serving compared to just around 2mg per same serving of beef.

Per 100 g	Vitamin C (mg)
Clam (canned)	22.1
Fish roe (cooked)	16.4
Fish roe	16.0
Clam	13.0
Crab (cooked)	7.6
Crab	7.0
Octopus	5.0
Oyster	4.7
Atlantic salmon	3.9
Trout	2.9
Shrimp	2.2
Mackerel	2.0
Herring	1.0
Mackerel	0.4

Sources: USDA nutrition data

5. Dairy

Dairy has very little vitamin C.

Raw milk that was expressed from the cow’s udder without any exposure to light has about 2mg per 100 ml of milk.^[21]

Pasteurized milk and reconstituted milk have a lot less vitamin C (0.6mg/100ml) and vitamin C appears to be nonexistent in cheese products. ^{[22, 23]}

Although the vitamin C level is low in cow’s milk, it is sufficient for a developing calf.

Babies fed pasteurized cow’s milk get about 7mg of vitamin C a day and this extremely small amount is enough to protect them from scurvy. ^[24]

There is also very little vitamin C in the breast milk of lactating mothers and breastfed babies are estimated to get from only around 4 to 34 mg daily but this amount is already sufficient to prevent scurvy in babies. ^[25]

Per 100 mil	Vitamin C (mg)
Raw milk	2.2
Reconstituted whole milk from powder	1.3
Pasteurized milk	0.6
Reconstituted evaporated milk	0.2

Source: Kon and Watson (1937) and Stewart and Sharp (1946)

Also, note that dehydroascorbic acid (an oxidized form of ascorbic acid) in milk has been found to have neuroprotective effects thanks to its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier which does not exist in ascorbic acid. ^[26]