Vitamins C and E and the Prevention of Preeclampsia

To the Editor: The report by Rumbold et al. on the Australian Collaborative Trial of Supplements (ACTS) and the accompanying editorial by Jeyabalan and Caritis (April 27 issue) 1 , 2 overlooked a key reason for the lack of effect of vitamin C on the prevention of preeclampsia. Ascorbate administration is based on the hypothesis that different intakes will produce different concentrations and hence outcomes. Because plasma ascorbate concentrations were not reported, we estimated them from known data. On the basis of data from young women who were not pregnant, 3 the placebo and treatment groups in the study by Rumbold et al. . . .