Guest guest Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 October 23, 2003 NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS " Nutrition news is important. We help you understand it! " Today's Topic: Vitamin C, Antioxidant Vitamin C is popular, in part, because it is an antioxidant. Chemically, it is referred to as a redox reagent. This means that ascorbic acid (the chemical name for the vitamin) exists in both a reduced and an oxidized state, ready to accept free electrons. Free electrons are part of normal metabolism but can do enormous damage to all cell components. But the full story is not at all simple. Under proper conditions, any antioxidant can also behave as a pro-oxidant. One cannot control the conditions in various parts of the body that make vitamin C an antioxidant or a pro-oxidant. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Despite strongly held beliefs by some of the public, there are no good quality data indicating that thousands of milligrams of vitamin C daily have any benefit. (This story originally appeared in Nutrition News Focus on July 9, 1999.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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