Vitamin C Found to Inhibit Congestive Heart Failure

A study has demonstrated that vitamin C can aid patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) by suppressing the signal for cell death within blood vessel linings. The study was published in the October 30, 2001, issue of Circulation.

Congestive heart failure patients suffer from endothelial dysfunction, which causes disturbances in the blood vessels and restricts the blood supply to the body, weakening the heart. Increasing evidence points to oxidative stress as the regulator of apoptosis in endothelial cells. The researchers decided to investigate the possibility that antioxident treatment with vitamin C might reduce endothelial cell death in CHF patients. They conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial with 34 patients, who received either 2.5 grams of vitamin C or placebo twice daily for four days. On the fifth day, they measured blood levels of circulating apoptotic microparticles. The results showed that vitamin C markedly reduced blood levels of apoptotic microparticles to 32% of baseline levels, while the placebo had no effect.

"The findings might contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of heart failure progression and could add antioxident treatment as a novel strategy to delay progression of heart failure,” said Stefanie Dimmeler, professor of experimental medicine, University of Frankfurt (Germany) and co-author of the study. She noted, however, that it was too early to draw conclusions about the results because of the small number of patients studied.




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