WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Mar 01 - Results of a prospective population study, published in the March 3rd issue of The Lancet, show that even a small increase in vitamin C intake can significantly reduce all-cause mortality.

Dr. Kay-Tee Khaw from the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine in UK and colleagues collected data on 19,496 men and women 45 to 79 years of age who were participants in the Norfolk (UK) arm of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

Subjects were divided into sex-specific quintiles based upon their plasma concentrations of vitamin C. Across the quintiles, the plasma ascorbic acid concentrations for men ranged from a low of 20.9 micromol/L to a high of 73.3 micromol/L and for women the range was 29.2 micromol/L to 86.0 micromol/L.

The subjects were followed for about 4 years and causes of death documented. For both men and women in the highest vitamin C quintile, the risk of mortality due to all causes, cardiovascular disease and ischemic heart disease was about 50% less than in subjects in the lowest quintile, Dr. Khaw's group found. "Ascorbic acid was inversely related to cancer mortality in men but not women," they add.

Overall, a 20% reduction in all-cause mortality risk was associated with an increase in plasma vitamin C concentration of 20 micromol, which is about a 50-gram increase in vitamin C a day from fruits and vegetables, the investigators note.

"Our findings suggest that an increase in dietary intake of foods rich in ascorbic acid might have benefits for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality in men and women and add to the large amount of evidence that lends support to the health benefits of fruit and vegetable intake. Small and feasible changes within the normal population range of intake could have a large effect," Dr. Khaw said in a journal statement.

Lancet 2001;357:657-663.