Vitamin C Depletion Reduces The Body's Ability To Use Fat As A Fuel Source

[Guest guest]

Vitamin C Depletion Reduces The Body's Ability To Use Fat As A Fuel

Source

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=40914

Too little vitamin C in the blood stream has been found to correlate

with increased body fat and waist measurements. Nutrition researchers

from Arizona State University report that the amount of vitamin C in

the blood stream is directly related to fat oxidation - the body's

ability to use fat as a fuel source - during both exercise and at

rest.

Bonnie Beezhold, a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Carol

ston, presented the most recent study, on the impact of vitamin C

depletion on a short-term diet, on April 3 at Experimental Biology

2006 in San Francisco. The presentation was part of the scientific

program of the American Society for Nutrition, Inc. (ASN).

Before beginning a controlled four-week, low-fat diet, 20 obese men

and women were randomized by gender and body weight into either a

Vitamin C group, taking a 500 mg vitamin C capsule daily, or a

control group, taking a capsule, identical in appearance to the

vitamin, containing a placebo. Neither participants nor researchers

knew who was receiving which capsule until the study was over. All

participants consumed a low-fat diet that the researchers adjusted

individually to promote slow weight loss (about two pounds per week).

The diet contained 67 percent of the USRDA (recommended daily

allowance) for vitamin C (40 mg/d).

At the beginning of the clinical trial, participants with the lowest

concentrations of vitamin C in their blood had the highest body fat

mass and tended not to oxidize fat well compared to their less obese

counterparts. As the participants moved through the four week diet,

with a steady amount of vitamin C being consumed, blood vitamin C

concentrations increased 30 percent in those taking vitamins and fell

27 percent in the control group whose only vitamin C intake was the

67 percent of the USRDA contained in the food. As vitamin C blood

concentrations fell, so did the participants' ability to oxidize fat

(an 11 percent reduction).

The highly-controlled diet worked for all participants. Although body

fat mass decreased slightly more in the vitamin C group, approaching

but not reaching statistical significance, both groups lost an

average of nine pounds, indicating that vitamin C depletion did not

appear to affect the ability to lose weight in the short term. But

because the study supported early findings in Dr. ston's

laboratory of a decrease in fat oxidation, the researchers are now

studying whether the impact of vitamin C status is associated with a

gradual gain in body fat in non-dieting individuals.

It is important to understand the impact of vitamin C deficiency,

says Dr. ston, because it affects about 15 percent of adults in

the United States, up from only 3-5 percent 25 years ago. She

believes the increased processing of the food supply is part of the

problem, since vitamin C in foods is destroyed by exposure to light,

oxygen, and/or heat.

How does vitamin C affect fat oxidation and thus the risk for weight

gain and obesity? Vitamin C is an essential cofactor for the

biosynthesis of a small protein-like molecule known as carnitine.

Carnitine functions to shuttle fat molecules to the site of fax

oxidation in tissue cells. When cells do not have access to fat

molecules, feelings of fatigue ensue since energy metabolism is

affected. Moreover, fat tends to accumulate in tissues when carnitine

concentrations are reduced.

This research was supported by a grant from the General Mills, Bell

Institute of Health and Nutrition.

[Guest guest]

DEAR GRETCHEN,

You just remind me that I need to buy my VIT C...lol!!!

Today I didn't go anywhere yet..one of those lazy days.

I need to go to the pool Gretchen and see if I can relax those aches

muscles...It is getting darker and cold outside, I just feel unwell

to do anything.

So nice to be back here and read some great Posts!!!!!!!!

Take Care and Have Great Day out there!

Hugs

Joana