Citric Acid

Citric acid is  completely natural . It gets its name from the citrus fruit family, which includes lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines, and grapefruits. Citrus fruits owe their sharp and bitter taste to citric acid, especially the more sour ones like lemons and limes. Studies have shown that citric acid can help your bones  absorb calcium  more easily.

Citric acid is found naturally in several fruits and berries, and is commonly added to many foods and beverages as a preservative or for flavor. It has a tart taste, and is also known as lemon salt or sour salt. Many of our customers use our citric acid to clean dishwashers and dishes, or to make fizzy bath bombs (fun!).

Citric acid is added to foods, drinks, and medicines to make them more acidic. Increasing the acidity of these products not only gives them a tart taste, but also prevents the growth of bacteria. Citric acid is also used to preserve the flavors of canned fruits and vegetables and to maintain the proper acidic level of jams and jellies that will help them gel.

Citric acid is recognized as safe for use in food by all major national and international food regulatory agencies. It is naturally present in almost all forms of  life , and excess citric acid is readily  metabolized  and eliminated from the  body .

Citric acid is an organic acid and a natural component of many fruits and fruit juices. It is not a vitamin or mineral and is not required in the diet. However, citric acid, not to be confused with ascorbic acid (vitamin C), is beneficial for people with kidney stones. It inhibits stone formation and breaks up small stones that are beginning to form. Citric acid is protective; the more citric acid in your urine, the more protected you are against forming new kidney stones. Citrate, used in calcium citrate  supplements  and in some medications (such as potassium citrate), is closely related to citric acid and also has stone prevention benefits. These medications may be prescribed to alkalinize your urine.

Citric acid occurs in relatively large quantities in  citrus fruits . It also occurs in other fruits, in vegetables, and in animal tissues and fluids either as the free acid or as  citrate  ion. It is an integral part of the Krebs (citric acid) cycle involving the  metabolic  conversion of  carbohydrates , fats, and proteins in most living organisms.

Citric acid, because of its low toxicity, relative noncorrosiveness, and biodegradability, is also being used for applications normally reserved for the strong mineral acids. These include preoperational and operational cleaning of iron and copper oxides from boilers, nuclear reactors, and heat exchangers; passivation of stainless steel tanks and equipment; and  etching  of concrete floors prior to coating. It is also used as a  dispersant  to retard settling of  titanium dioxide  slurries and as a sequestering and pH control agent in the textile industry.

Citric acid plays an important role in metabolism, the set of chemical reactions that occur when cells break down fats, carbohydrates, and other compounds to produce energy and compounds needed to build new cells and tissues. In fact, the series of reactions by which carbohydrates are converted to energy is generally known as the citric acid cycle because of the fundamental role played by the compound in those reactions. The citric acid cycle is also known as the Krebs cycle, after the German-British biochemist Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, who discovered the series of reactions in 1937. Citric acid also acts as an antioxidant, a substance that rid the body of molecules called free radicals that can damage healthy cells, promote cancer, and bring about ageing.