ABSTRACT
A significantly lower vitamin C concentration has been found in the blood and particularly in the leukocytes of hypercholesterolemic diabetic patients than of healthy blood donors. Ascorbic acid administered in a dose of 500 mg per day for 12 months to metabolically stabilized hypercholesterolemic subjects with maturity-onset diabetes mellitus (diabetic diet without insulin or diabetic drugs) brought about a striking decline of cholesterolemia and a moderate decline of triglyceridemia. The serum lipid level in the control group given placebo remained unaltered. A daily administration of 500 mg of ascorbic acid for six months failed to affect the fasting level of serum immunoreactive insulin. It is assumed that the long-term administration of ascorbic acid to maturity-onset diabetics removed the tissue ascorbate deficiency and improved the liver ability to compensate the increased endogenous synthesis of cholesterol by its enhanced transformation to bile acids.
Subject(s)
Ascorbic Acid/therapeutic use , Diabetes Complications , Hypercholesterolemia/drug therapy , Ascorbic Acid/administration & dosage , Ascorbic Acid/blood , Ascorbic Acid Deficiency/complications , Ascorbic Acid Deficiency/drug therapy , Cholesterol/blood , Cholesterol/metabolism , Clinical Trials as Topic , Diabetes Mellitus/metabolism , Female , Humans , Hypercholesterolemia/complications , Hypercholesterolemia/metabolism , Leukocytes/metabolism , Male , Middle Aged , Placebos , Triglycerides/bloodSubject(s)
Ascorbic Acid/blood , Homes for the Aged , Age Factors , Aged , Czechoslovakia , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , SeasonsABSTRACT
During the period of a low vitamin C intake (approximately equal to 20 mg per day) ascorbic acid in a dose of 2 x 500 mg per day was administered to 82 men and women aged 50-75 years. A correlation of plasma cholesterol levels determined before and after a three months' administration of ascorbic acid showed the effect of vitamin C to be dependent on the starting concentration of plasma cholesterol: the higher the initial cholesterolemia, the greater the hypocholesterolemic effect of ascorbic acid. On restricting the experimental group to subjects with an initial cholesterolemia above 230 mg%, the effect of the same dose of ascorbic acid on cholesterolemia was followed in three-month periods for a further 9 months. In all these time intervals, ascorbic acid was found significantly to depress cholesterolemia and its effects persisted 6 weeks after termination of the experiment. The administration of 2 x 500 mg ascorbic acid daily during one year resulted in an abrupt increase of ascorbemia and a marked accumulation of ascorbic acid in the leucocytes. Six weeks following interruption of ascorbic acid intake, vitamin C concentration in the leucocytes significantly declined but still continued to be twice higher than in the control receiving no ascorbic acid supplement.
