The DOI matches its Crossref record; 150 of the 152 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Dietary Vitamin C in Human Health
Abstract
Vitamin C is essential to prevent scurvy in humans and is implicated in the primary prevention of common and complex diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer. This chapter reviews the latest knowledge about dietary vitamin C in human health with an emphasis on studies of the molecular mechanisms of vitamin C maintenance as well as gene-nutrient interactions modifying these relationships. Epidemiological evidence indicates 5% prevalence for vitamin C deficiency and 13% prevalence for suboptimal status even in industrialized countries. The daily intake (dose) and the corresponding systemic concentrations (response) are related in a saturable relationship, and low systemic vitamin C concentrations in observational studies are associated with negative health outcomes. However, there is no evidence that vitamin C supplementation impacts the risks for all-cause mortality, impaired cognitive performance, reduced quality of life, the development of eye diseases, infections, cardiovascular disease, and cancers. This might be related to the fact that prevention would not be realized by supplementation in populations already adequately supplied through dietary sources. Recent genetic association studies indicate that the dietary intake might not be the sole determinant of systemic concentrations, since variations in genes participating in redox homeostasis and vitamin C transport had been associated with lowered plasma concentrations. However, impact sizes are generally low and these phenomena might only affect individual of suboptimal dietary supply.
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In the citing paper
“Typical symptoms of scurvy are muscle weakness, swollen and bleeding gums, loss of teeth, petechial hemorrhaging, spontaneous ecchymoses, anemia, impaired would healing, hyperkeratosis, weakness, myalgia, arthralgia, and weight loss”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“As already discussed, smokers are at much higher risk [2].”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“Moreover, vitamin C deficiency is associated with higher C-reactive protein levels and with higher mortality [2,175,177].”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“However, this relationship seems to be valid only for inadequate plasma levels.”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“Higher levels of plasma vitamin C are correlated with a lower risk of coronary artery disease and mortality in terms of cardiovascular diseases.”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“They are, therefore, fully dependent on vitamin C intake from the diet [1,2,3].”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“In contrast to most of the vertebrates, guinea pigs, bats, passeriform birds, and primates, including humans, lack L-gulono-1,4-lactone oxidase, and, hence, cannot synthesize vitamin C.”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“The pKa of ascorbic acid is 4.1–4.2. Hence, it is present completely as a monoanion—ascorbate at the physiological pH [1,2,4,68].”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“The influence of genetic variations on vitamin C pharmacokinetics is based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found in SLC23A1 and SLC23A2 genes with a possible association to human diseases (reviewed in References [2,6]).”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“An effect of individual SNPs on the vitamin C system level has an additive character, which depends on genotype and an allele dosage (additive) effect that was also described.”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“Biochemically, vitamin C plasma levels below 11 µM are considered to coincide with clinical symptoms of scurvy.”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“Similarly, symptoms are not seen unless the total vitamin C content in the body falls below 300–400 mg [2,3,6,157,170].”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“As mentioned, patients with cancer often have lower plasma levels of vitamin C than healthy adults.”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“In adequate vitamin C plasma levels, supplementation with vitamin C has a little effect [2,5,189].”
From Vitamin C-Sources, Physiological Role, Kinetics, Deficiency, Use, Toxicity, and Determination (2021) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“However, due to a genetic mutation of the L-gulonolactone oxidase gene in the last step of the synthesis pathway, humans have lost the ability to make vitamin C and thus must obtain it from the diet134.”
In the citing paper
“In advanced cases, scurvy may occur, presenting with severe fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, gingival hypertrophy, and widespread hemorrhagic manifestations [38].”
From The Seven Methods for the Evaluation of Nutritional Status—ABCDEFG: Narrative Review (2026) · cites this paper as [38]
Citations
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Self-citationAscorbate is an outstanding antioxidant in human blood plasma
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2 of the 152 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 3
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Metadata
- Authors
- Granger, M., & Eck, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Manitoba (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Eck, Peter
- Venue
- Advances in food and nutrition research
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Published
- 2018
- Volume
- 83
- Pages
- 281-310
- ISSN
- 1043-4526 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2790046020
- Cited by
- 217
- References
- 152
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 48.38
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Advances in food and nutrition research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Vitamin C and Antioxidants Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry (medical) › Antioxidant Activity and Oxidative Stress
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry (medical) › Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities
- Keywords
- vitamin C intake, vitamin C, scurvy, vitamin C supplementation, gene-nutrient interactions, redox homeostasis, plasma vitamin C concentration, coronary artery disease, stroke, cancer prevention, all-cause mortality, cognitive performance, eye diseases, infection
- MeSH terms
- Ascorbic Acid, Diet, Haptoglobins, Homeostasis, Humans, Scurvy, Vitamins, Dietary Supplements
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