HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Related articles in AJCN Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Myint, P. K Articles by Khaw, K.-T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Myint, P. K Articles by Khaw, K.-T. Agricola Articles by Myint, P. K Articles by Khaw, K.-T.

Plasma vitamin C concentrations predict risk of incident stroke over 10 y in 20 649 participants of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer–Norfolk prospective population study ^1,2,3

¹ From the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (PKM, RNL, AAW, and K-TK); the MRC Centre for Nutrition and Cancer, Cambridge, United Kingdom (SAB); and the MRC Epidemiology Unit, Elsie Widdowson Laboratories, Cambridge, United Kingdom (NJW)

Background: The relation between plasma vitamin C and risk of stroke remains unclear. Although clinical trials showed no significant benefit of vitamin C supplementation in reducing stroke risk, they were not able to examine the relation between plasma vitamin C concentrations and stroke risk in a general population.

Objective: The objective was to examine the relation between baseline plasma vitamin C concentrations and risk of incident stroke in a British population.

Design: A population-based prospective study was conducted in 20 649 men and women aged 40–79 y without prevalent stroke at baseline and participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer–Norfolk prospective population study. The participants completed a health questionnaire and attended a clinic during 1993–1997 and were followed up for incident strokes through March 2005.

Results: Over 196 713 total person-years (average follow-up: 9.5 y), 448 incident strokes occurred. In a Cox proportional hazards model, persons in the top quartiles of baseline plasma vitamin C concentrations had a 42% lower risk (relative risk: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.43, 0.78) than did those in the bottom quartile, independently of age, sex, smoking, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol, physical activity, prevalent diabetes and myocardial infarction, social class, alcohol consumption, and any supplement use. Similar results were obtained after exclusion of persons with illnesses, users of ascorbic acid–containing supplements, and persons with a history of early strokes during the initial 2 y of follow-up.

Conclusions: Plasma vitamin C concentrations may serve as a biological marker of lifestyle or other factors associated with reduced stroke risk and may be useful in identifying those at high risk of stroke.

Key Words: Plasma vitamin C • epidemiology • fruit and vegetables • stroke

Related articles in AJCN:

Fruit and vegetables: think variety, go ahead, eat!

Sebastian J Padayatty and Mark Levine
AJCN 2008 87: 5-7. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. K Myint, R. N Luben, N. J Wareham, S. A Bingham, and K.-T. Khaw Combined effect of health behaviours and risk of first ever stroke in 20 040 men and women over 11 years' follow-up in Norfolk cohort of European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC Norfolk): prospective population study BMJ, February 19, 2009; 338(feb19_2): b349 - b349. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]