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Vit. C & Antioxidants Question
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:41 am
by alive
Hello,
Would anyone happen to know if it is the antioxidant properties of vit. C that cause the beneficial effects on our cardiovascular system?
Or is it something else in the vit. C that does it?
Or, perhaps, do we simply don't know (yet)?
Thanks.
Re: Vit. C & Antioxidants Question
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:16 am
by ofonorow
It is the anti-scurvy property (collagen production, etc.) and probably not as much the antioxidant property. One way we know this is that their are 4 different "sterioisomers" of vitamin C, L-ascorbate, D-ascorbate, LD-ascorbate, and DL-ascorbate which are all equivalent antioxidants. Yet only one form - L-ascorbate - cures scurvy and is considered vitamin C. The experiment (which has even been run yet with L-ascorbate!!!) is to see whether the other forms help with heart disease (by neutralizing free radicals). However, because of the Pauling/Rath theory, one would only expect L-ascorbate to be effective.
Re: Vit. C & Antioxidants Question
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:33 am
by pamojja
ofonorow wrote:It is the anti-scurvy property (collagen production, etc.) and probably not as much the antioxidant property.
Couldn't vitamin C's requirement for collagen production not also be considered one of its anti-oxidative effects? From Wikipedia:
Vitamin C acts as an electron donor for eight different enzymes:[79]
* Three enzymes participate in collagen hydroxylation.[80][81][82] These reactions add hydroxyl groups to the amino acids proline or lysine in the collagen molecule via prolyl hydroxylase and lysyl hydroxylase, both requiring vitamin C as a cofactor. Hydroxylation allows the collagen molecule to assume its triple helix structure and making vitamin C essential to the development and maintenance of scar tissue, blood vessels, and cartilage.[49]
*...
Re: Vit. C & Antioxidants Question
Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:42 am
by ofonorow
I am not sure the title (electron donor) has much to do with the paragraph - which is essentially vitamin C's anti-scurvy factor, as I understand it. It is a matter of perspective.
Something like 10 mg of vitamin C per day can prevent frank scurvy in most people.
Cathcart discovered that some diseases, such as mono, create a daily requirement for more than 200,000 mg of ascorbate in the human body. He attributes this need to the the "anti free radical" property of ascorbate, not its "vitamin" property.
So back to the original question, it is the anti-scurvy property which is crucial according to the Pauling/Rath theory - for the production of collagen and repair of arteries. But the high amounts required, at least 10,000 mg, would indicate that ascorbate's other properties (such as the antioxidant property) may also play an important role.
And this gets back to the question of toxicity, e.g., dental work, which may be the reason much higher doses of C is required visa vis CVD. We know that yet another property of vitamin C is general detoxification.