“Science Daily reports that a team at the University of Alabama (Huntsville) found that rats who were fed 200 mg/day vitamin C experienced reduced levels of plasma stress hormones, as well as lowered indicators of physical and emotional stress.” – C Wright
If you have undesirable fat around your midsection or would like to support cardiovascular health or reduce diabetic symptoms, vitamin C can help. Not only does it improve stamina, boost immunity, lessen stress response and curtail inflammation, but it also encourages insulin sensitivity and lowers concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) — a biomarker which suggests heart disease risk.
A case in point is research from the University of California (Berkeley), which found participants who took approximately 500 milligrams of vitamin C each day experienced a 24 percent drop in plasma CRP levels after two months of the protocol. According to a press release:
“C-reactive protein is a marker of inflammation, and there is a growing body of evidence that chronic inflammation is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and even Alzheimer’s disease,” said Gladys Block, UC Berkeley professor of epidemiology and public health nutrition and lead author of the study. “If our finding of vitamin C’s ability to lower CRP is confirmed through other trials, vitamin C could become an important public health intervention.”
As a defense against infection or injury, the body triggers inflammatory cytokines, which then prompts the production of CRP by the liver. The researchers are unsure as to how vitamin C is able to lower CRP levels but suspect that the mechanism might be the suppression of cytokine production. Continue reading