Does cooking the mango destroy the vitamin C?

Yes, about 50% of vitamin C is lost in cooking. Eat the mango raw alongside cooked iron-rich food for the best absorption boost.

Can I just take a vitamin C supplement?

You can, and it works similarly. But whole mango brings beta-carotene, fibre, and food-matrix benefits that a tablet doesn't.

Does this work for iron supplements (ferrous sulphate)?

Yes, taking your iron supplement with mango (or any vitamin C source) improves absorption by 30 to 60% and reduces the GI side effects somewhat.

Mango and iron absorption

The two kinds of iron

Iron from animal foods (red meat, poultry, fish) is heme iron, absorbed at 15 to 35% efficiency regardless of what else is on the plate. Iron from plants (lentils, spinach, fortified cereals, dried apricots) is non-heme, absorbed at only 2 to 10%, and that rate is hugely influenced by what you eat with it.

This is why vegetarians and vegans are at higher risk of iron deficiency, not because plants don't contain iron, but because plant iron is harder to extract.

Vitamin C as the absorption enhancer

Vitamin C reduces ferric iron (Fe3+) to ferrous iron (Fe2+) in the gut, the form your enterocytes can actually transport across the membrane. The effect is dose-dependent: 25mg vitamin C alongside a meal doubles non-heme absorption; 50mg triples it; 100mg quadruples it (Hallberg & Hulthén, 2000).

Above 100mg the effect plateaus. So a 200g portion of Chaunsa (~73mg vitamin C) is in the sweet spot.

How to actually pair mango with iron-rich foods

Eat the mango as part of the meal, not as dessert 90 minutes later. Vitamin C's effect on iron is localised to the meal it's in, once the food has left the duodenum, the boost is gone.

Best pairings: mango with dal and rice; mango chunks in spinach salad; mango lassi alongside a chickpea curry; sliced mango on iron-fortified breakfast cereal. Vegetarian iron meals built around tannin-heavy drinks (tea, coffee) lose 60% of their iron, substitute mango juice or whole mango instead.

Who benefits most

Vegetarians, vegans, menstruating women, athletes (especially female endurance runners), pregnant women, and anyone in iron-deficiency anaemia treatment. General dietary guidance recommends pairing iron-rich plant foods with vitamin C sources for anaemia recovery.

Mango is one of the highest vitamin C foods that doesn't taste like medicine. A daily Chaunsa during pregnancy or menstrual recovery is a defensible, simple intervention.

Frequently asked

Does cooking the mango destroy the vitamin C?: Yes, about 50% of vitamin C is lost in cooking. Eat the mango raw alongside cooked iron-rich food for the best absorption boost.
Can I just take a vitamin C supplement?: You can, and it works similarly. But whole mango brings beta-carotene, fibre, and food-matrix benefits that a tablet doesn't.
Does this work for iron supplements (ferrous sulphate)?: Yes, taking your iron supplement with mango (or any vitamin C source) improves absorption by 30 to 60% and reduces the GI side effects somewhat.