Vitamin C Helps To Prevent Cardiovascular Disease and Stomach Cancer

Do we still need Vitamin C?  It hardly ever gets a mention in health news these days.  Whenever discussions of antioxidants occur, more exotic antioxidants like green tea extract, coenzyme Q-10, grape seed extract, pycnogenol, and alpha lipoic acid are often mentioned.  But let’s not forget some of the basic antioxidants, like vitamin E and good old vitamin C, which are still very important contributors to optimal health.  Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that has an amazing number of health benefits, including prevention of heart disease and certain types of cancer.  A new paper published in Antioxid Redox Signal in 2013 explains the important role that vitamin C has in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.(1)  This paper also notes that 10-20 of Americans are deficient in vitamin C.  Vitamin C’s cardio protective role has to do with nitric oxide bioavailability, lipid metabolism, and vascular integrity.

During the process by which cholesterol forms plaques in the artery walls, white blood cells known as monocytes migrate and stick to the walls of the arteries.  These plaques can gradually thicken and block the blood flow in these arteries. Higher levels of vitamin C reduce monocyte adhesion to the artery walls.  Vitamin C has been shown to lower blood pressure.  Vitamin C also enhances the health-promoting effects of exercise and reduces exercise-induced oxidative damage.  In addition, vitamin C has been shown to reduce blood pressure when elevated. I recommend at least 1000 mg/day of vitamin C in a non-acid form for cardiovascular health.

Another new paper on vitamin C reinforces earlier research that higher serum vitamin C levels are associated with a lower risk of gastric (stomach) cancer.(2)  This study was conducted in China where there is a very high incidence of stomach cancer.  The researchers found that the risk of gastric cancer was 31% lower among those with the highest plasma (blood) concentration of vitamin C than among those with the lowest level of plasma vitamin C.

H. pylori infection (the microbe responsible for ulcers) is the leading etiologic factor for gastric cancer and vitamin C appears to possess antimicrobial activity against H. pylori.(3)  Other possible reasons that vitamin C could protect against stomach cancer would be by protecting against oxidative DNA damage from nitroso compounds, such as found in processed meats like bacon, and by neutralizing reactive oxygen species caused by H. pylori infection.

References:

1. Tveden-Nyborg P, Lykkesfeldt J.. Does vitamin C deficiency increase lifestyle-associated vascular disease progression? Evidence based on experimental and clinical studies. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2013 Jun 20.

2. Lam TK, Fan JH, Qiao YL, et al. Prediagnostic plasma vitamin C and risk of gastric adenocarcinoma and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in a Chinese population. ACJN. 2013 98:1289-97.

3. Zhang ZW, Abdullahi M, Farthin MJ. Effect of physiological concentrations of vitamin C on gastric cancer cells and Helicobactor pylori. Gut. 2002;50:165-9