One of the items in the routine urine test is called ascorbic acid. The presence of three plus signs of ascorbic acid suggests that there are three plus signs of vitamin C in the urine, which means that there is an increase in the amount of vitamin C in the urine. Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, used to be a drug used to treat sepsis, so it is called ascorbic acid. Increased vitamin C in the urine is most often the result of excessive dietary intake of vitamin C, such as eating more vitamin C-rich fruits, or taking oral medications related to vitamin C preparations. Elevated vitamin C generally has no specific clear significance; it is used as a contrast reagent in the urine, and may lead to false-negative results on tests if there is an elevated level of vitamin C in the urine, e.g., nitrites can be reduced to a negative result in a high vitamin C environment. A positive nitrite suggests the presence of a urinary tract infection, but an elevated vitamin causes it to become a false-negative result, which then masks the diagnosis of a urinary tract infection, so vitamin C is placed in the urine as a reference indicator in the routine urinalysis.