https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)60735-1.pdf

Correlates of physical activity: why are some people physically active and others not?

Vitamin C in humans must be ingested for survival. Vitamin C is an electron donor, and this property accounts for all its known functions. As an electron donor, vitamin C is a potent water-soluble antioxidant in humans. Antioxidant effects of vitamin C have been demonstrated in many experiments in vitro. Human diseases such as atherosclerosis and cancer might occur in part from oxidant damage to tissues. Oxidation of lipids, proteins and DNA results in specific oxidation products that can be measured in the laboratory. While these biomarkers of oxidation have been measured in humans, such assays have not yet been validated or standardized, and the relationship of oxidant markers to human disease conditions is not clear. Epidemiological studies show that diets high in fruits and vegetables are associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer, and with increased longevity. Whether these protective effects are directly attributable to vitamin C is not known. Intervention studies with vitamin C have shown no change in markers of oxidation or clinical benefit. Dose concentration studies of vitamin C in healthy people showed a sigmoidal relationship between oral dose and plasma and tissue vitamin C concentrations. Hence, optimal dosing is critical to intervention studies using vitamin C. Ideally, future studies of antioxidant actions of vitamin C should target selected patient groups. These groups should be known to have increased oxidative damage as assessed by a reliable biomarker or should have high morbidity and mortality due to diseases thought to be caused or exacerbated by oxidant damage.

Vitamin C as an Antioxidant: Evaluation of Its Role in Disease Prevention

A spontaneously diabetic rat with polyuria, polydipsia, and mild obesity was discovered in 1984 in an outbred colony of Long-Evans rats, which had been purchased from Charles River Canada (St. Constant, Quebec, Canada) in 1982. A strain of rats developed from this rat by selective breeding has since been maintained at the Tokushima Research Institute (Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Tokushima, Japan) and named OLETF. The characteristic features of OLETF rats are 1 ) late onset of hyperglycemia (after 18 wk of age); 2 ) a chronic course of disease; 3 ) mild obesity; 4 ) inheritance by males; 5 ) hyperplastic foci of pancreatic islets; and 6 ) renal complication (nodular lesions). Histologically, the changes of pancreatic islets can be classified into three stages: 7 ) an early stage (6–20 wk of age) of cellular infiltration and degeneration; 2 ) a hyperplastic stage (20–40 wk of age); and 3 ) a final stage (at >40 wk of age). These clinical and pathological features of disease in OLETF rats resemble those of human NIDDM.

Spontaneous Long-Term Hyperglycemic Rat With Diabetic Complications: Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) Strain

Toward a new recommended dietary allowance for vitamin C based on antioxidant and health effects in humans

Vitamin C readily scavenges reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and may thereby prevent oxidative damage to important biological macromolecules such as DNA, lipids, and proteins. Vitamin C also reduces redox active transition metal ions in the active sites of specific biosynthetic enzymes. The interaction of vitamin C with ‘free’, catalytically active metal ions could contribute to oxidative damage through the production of hydroxyl and alkoxyl radicals; whether these mechanisms occur in vivo, however, is uncertain. To examine this issue, we reviewed studies that investigated the role of vitamin C, both in the presence and absence of metal ions, in oxidative DNA, lipid, and protein damage. We found compelling evidence for antioxidant protection of lipids by vitamin C in biological fluids, animals, and humans, both with and without iron cosupplementation. Although the data on protein oxidation in humans are sparse and inconclusive, the available data in animals consistently show an antioxidant role of vit...

https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1096/fasebj.13.9.1007

Does vitamin C act as a pro-oxidant under physiological conditions?

The fa-gene was transferred from the Zucker rat (13 M strain) to the Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rat. The survey, performed at the 10th generation of backcrossing, showed that Wistar fatty rats (fa/fa), a congenic strain of WKY, developed obesity and obesity-related features, such as hyperinsulinemia and hyperlipemia, in the same manner as Zucker fatty rats. Males, but not females, showed hyperglycemia, glucosuria, and polyuria as early as 8 wk of age. Tolerance and insulin response to oral glucose were decreased with advancing age in males. The diabetic changes appeared to be caused by an interaction between predisposition to develop diabetes in the WKY rat and fa-induced obesity. This is because WKY rats were found to be less sensitive to insulin than Zucker rats by both the glucose tolerance test and the steady-state blood glucose method which estimates overall insulin sensitivity.

A New Genetically Obese-Hyperglycemic Rat (Wistar Fatty)

The effects of dietary ascorbic acid on plasma lipoprotein and liver lipid peroxide concentrations were examined using ODS od/od rats with a genetic defect in the ability to synthesize ascorbic acid. ODS od/od rats were fed purified diets supplemented with 0 to 300 mg ascorbic acid/kg diet for 21 d. An ascorbic acid-free diet induced body weight loss, depleted ascorbic acid in the plasma and increased thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances in the plasma and liver as compared with rats fed ascorbic acid supplemented diets and with normal ODS +/+ rats fed the ascorbic acid-free diet. Increasing ascorbic acid concentration in the diet inhibited the development of these ascorbic acid deficiency symptoms in a dose-dependent manner. The dietary requirement of ascorbic acid to maintain normal body weight gain and plasma lipid peroxide concentrations was approximately 150 mg ascorbic acid/kg diet. On the other hand, even 300 mg ascorbic acid/kg diet was insufficient to maintain a hepatic concentration of ascorbic acid comparable to that in the liver of ODS +/+ rats. The lipid peroxide concentration in plasma LDL and liver was significantly elevated in ODS od/od rats fed the ascorbic acid-free diet. Supplementing the diet with 300 mg ascorbic acid/kg kept those concentrations within the normal ranges seen in the ODS +/+ rats.

Dietary ascorbic acid depresses plasma and low density lipoprotein lipid peroxidation in genetically scorbutic rats.

An α-glucosidase inhibitor, AO-128, retards carbohydrate absorption in rats and humans

PVN-lesioned obese rats maintain ambulatory activity and its circadian rhythm

AO-128 is a potent and structurally novel inhibitor of the intestinal disaccharidases, such as maltase and sucrase. Genetically obese-diabetic mice, KKA(y), were used to examine the acute or long-term effectiveness of this compound. AO-128 decreased a postprandial rise in blood glucose after sucrose solution loading dose-dependently; the ED50 to reduce a delta increment of blood glucose by 50% was 0.22 mg/kg. The intestinal sucrase and maltase activities were suppressed to 7 and 48% of the control levels, respectively, at a dose of 0.21 mg/kg. Four-week-old female KKA(y) mice were kept on a laboratory diet containing 10 or 50 ppm of AO-128 for 12 weeks. The high dose of AO-128 reduced food intake and body weight gain throughout the experimental period. On the other hand, the low dose reduced body weight gain for the first 4 weeks without any effect on food intake. Development of the hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia characteristic of KKA(y) mice was moderately prevented by the low dose, and completely by the high dose. Hypertriglyceridemia tended to be suppressed by the AO-128 treatment. The high dose decreased the hemoglobin A1 level and parametrial adipose tissue weight. Hepatomegaly and fatty liver were ameliorated by AO-128 dose-dependently. Nephropathy was ameliorated by the high dose. These findings indicate that AO-128 may be useful for treating human obesity and diabetes.

Takao Matsuo

Papers

A New Genetically Obese-Hyperglycemic Rat (Wistar Fatty)

Dietary ascorbic acid depresses plasma and low density lipoprotein lipid peroxidation in genetically scorbutic rats.

An α-glucosidase inhibitor, AO-128, retards carbohydrate absorption in rats and humans

PVN-lesioned obese rats maintain ambulatory activity and its circadian rhythm

Antiobesity and antidiabetic actions of a new potent disaccharidase inhibitor in genetically obese-diabetic mice, kkay