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By Suzanne Rostler
NEW YORK, Mar 02 (Reuters Health) - Fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C are associated with a reduced risk of death from all causes including heart disease and stroke, British scientists said Friday.
Even small increases in levels of vitamin C in the blood reduced the risk of heart disease and death in healthy adults, according to the report in the March 3rd issue of The Lancet. For instance, just one extra serving of fruit or vegetable was associated with a 20% lower risk of death from all causes regardless of age, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and use of dietary supplements, findings show.
The risk of death was cut in half for individuals who had the highest levels of vitamin C in their blood compared with those who had the lowest levels.
The report adds to a large body of evidence linking a vitamin C-rich diet with better health and longer life and suggests that small dietary changes could have a profound effect on health.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Kay-Tee Khaw, the study's lead author, said the antioxidant vitamin C alone is probably not responsible for the lower risk of disease and death observed in the study. Rather, intake of the vitamin is a marker for an overall healthy lifestyle that includes a nutrient-rich diet, exercise and not smoking.
"The blood levels of vitamin C appear to be a strong and specific indicator of high fruit and vegetable intake, and it may be all the other components of high fruit and vegetable intake that are protective for mortality, not just vitamin C, per se," said Khaw, from University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine in Cambridge, UK.
As an antioxidant, the vitamin moves through the blood, mopping up DNA-damaging free radicals. These compounds have been linked with chronic disease and aging.
In other findings, high blood levels of vitamin C were associated with a decreased risk for cancer among men but not women.
"It may be that any possible protective effect of this dietary pattern is specific to particular cancers," Khaw suggests, noting that lung and colorectal are the most common life-threatening cancers in men while breast cancer is the leading malignancy in women.
The study results are based on a single measurement of vitamin C in the blood of nearly 20,000 individuals aged 45 to 79 in England, and medical data over a 4-year period.
SOURCE: The Lancet 2001;357:657-663.
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