Study Pinpoints Vitamin C
as Key to Good Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to good health, vitamin C may be the key ingredient of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, a new study concludes.

While a plant-rich diet is associated with better health overall, and a lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers specifically, exactly how such a diet affects blood levels of specific nutrients is not clear.

The new findings suggest that ``raising (vitamin C) levels may be an important mechanism by which fruit and vegetable consumption confers protective benefits,'' Dr. Gladys Block of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues report.

They measured blood levels of vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin E and beta-cryptoxanthin--a nutrient found in oranges and orange juice--in 116 nonsmoking men aged 35 to 72, who did not take vitamin supplements. Smoking, the researchers explain, lowers blood levels of certain nutrients, while taking supplements increases nutrient levels.

All study volunteers filled out a questionnaire on how often they ate certain foods in the previous year.

The average fruit and vegetable intake was about three times daily, according to the report published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. Blood levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and carotenoids, which are converted to vitamin A in the body, were significantly associated with the frequency of eating foods containing these nutrients. The association was particularly strong for vitamin C.

``In our study, ascorbic acid was considerably more highly associated with fruit and vegetable intake than were the carotenoids,'' Block and colleagues write. ``Thus, it is possible that ascorbic acid is as important as or more important than carotenoids in conferring the protective benefit of fruits and vegetables.''

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology 2001;154:1113-1118.

Reference Source 89

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