Interaction of vitamin E and ascorbic acid (review).
Ascorbic acid appears to have two opposite roles in animal tissues: to act as an antioxidant or to act as a prooxidant. The effects of ascorbic acid supplementation on the tissue antioxidant status seem to be dependent on the dose of ascorbic acid and the vitamin E status. Adequate doses of ascorbic acid supplementation to vitamin E-deficient subjects or animals help to partially maintain vitamin E levels, probably through sparing the degradative metabolism of vitamin E, and thus increase the antioxidant effectiveness. The sparing effect of ascorbic acid on vitamin E metabolism is also shown in the partial reversal of the manifestation of vitamin E deficiency. On the other hand, when the animals are marginally adequate in vitamin E status, ascorbic acid supplementation in large doses appears to promote lipid peroxidation and significantly decreases the antioxidant potential of animals. An increase of the level of vitamin E supplementation overcomes the prooxidant effect of large doses of ascorbic acid. This observation suggests that vitamin E requirement may be increased with a large dose of ascorbic acid supplementation.
Chen
L H
LH
Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506-0054.
D000818:Animals; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004347:Drug Interactions; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D005609:Free Radicals; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000187:drug effects; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000494:pharmacology*
D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D005609:Free Radicals; D014810:Vitamin E; D001205:Ascorbic Acid