The medicinal use of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is a great classic. The figurative name of the drug Abriscor® referred to the two words (i) the fruit apricot (abricot in French) and ascorbic acid (250 mg per tablet). This drug is no longer available today (remove from the market in 1981) but there are similar products and food supplements containing vitamin C with an apricot taste.
Ascorbic acid exerts many beneficial activities, but above all it is a potent antioxidant and a cell-protective agent. This safe compound can be used in children and adults to reduce oxidative stress and to prevent inflammation. The product is also intended to increase immune response in cases of stress or microbial infection. It can facilitate divers physiological processes, such as digestion, muscle recovery following physical exercise, and attenuate bone loss for example. In the recent period, the compound has been considered even to modify the possible course of COVID-19, but there is no solid proof of that; the data are inconsistent. Vitamin C exerts immune-modulating effects but it is not an anti-infectious remedy. Here, the drug name refered to the taste of the product (probably of a synthetic origin) not to the active ingredient vitamin C, although apricot fruits (Prunus armeniaca L.) contain numerous antioxidant compounds, including ascorbic acid and many other antioxidant flavonoids and polyphenols.
A sketch drawing of a series of apricots, with reference to the taste of the drug and probably the content of vitamin C in those fruits.
