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Lee Swanson Research Update
Risk of Stroke May Partially Depend on Vitamin C Levels
January 2008
"Persons in the top quartiles of baseline plasma vitamin C concentrations had a 42% lower risk" of stroke, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Increased levels of vitamin C, associated with increased intake of fruit and vegetables, were found to offer significant cardiovascular benefits among the 20,649 men and women taking part in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer.
The authors, led by Phyo Myint from the University of Cambridge, state that blood levels of the vitamin could be used as a biological marker of lifestyle used to identify people at high risk of stroke.
"An intriguing possibility is that the plasma vitamin C concentration is a good marker of a wider range of health behaviors, such as fruit and vegetable consumption, that may be protective against stroke," Myint wrote.
Myint and coworkers followed the study subjects for 9.5 years and documented 448 strokes during this time. The subjects completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire at the start of the study, and blood samples were taken to measure vitamin C levels.
The highest average blood levels of vitamin C (greater than 66 micromoles per liter) were associated with a 42% lower risk of stroke, compared to the lowest average blood levels (less than 41 micromoles per liter), after adjusting the results for potentially confounding factors.
"We believe that these findings are of interest for several reasons," the authors stated. "First, the strong inverse association between plasma vitamin C and stroke suggests that plasma vitamin C is likely to be a good biomarker of whatever causal factors affect stroke risk, most plausibly the dietary intake of plant foods.
"Second, irrespective of any causal associations, plasma vitamin C appears to be a good predictive risk indicator of stroke, independent of known risk factors such as age, BP, smoking, lipids, diabetes and body mass index."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 87(1):64-69, 2008
