Effect of Dietary or Supplemental Vitamin C Intake on Vitamin C Levels in Patients with and without Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review

Atherosclerosis is a pro-oxidative and pro-inflammatory disease state, which is the underlying cause of most cardiovascular events, estimated to affect 5.2% of the Australian population. Diet, and specifically vitamin C, through its antioxidant properties can play a role in impeding the development and progression of atherosclerosis. This systematic review conducted comprehensive searches in Medline, Emcare, Scopus, PubMed, and Cochrane using key search terms for vitamin C, plasma vitamin C, supplementation, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The results demonstrated that vitamin C supplementation resulted in a significant increase in vitamin C levels in populations with or without CVD, except for one study on the CVD population. It was also seen that the healthy population baseline and post-intervention vitamin C levels were high compared to the CVD population. However, further research is indicated for CVD population groups with varying baseline vitamin C levels, such as low baseline vitamin C, within a more representative elderly cohort in order to formulate and update vitamin C repletion guidelines.