caa a22 4500 388097108 CHVBK 20180307125306.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199905 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0029665199000610 doi S0029665199000610 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0029665199000610 Benzie Iris F. F. Department of Nursing & Health Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China Vitamin C: prospective functional markers for defining optimal nutritional status [Elektronische Daten] [Iris F. F. Benzie] Most species of plants and animals synthesize ascorbic acid, but human subjects cannot, making vitamin C an essential component of our diet. Relationships between vitamin C intake and status, and between status and health are not yet clear. There is evidence, however, that higher intake of vitamin C is associated with lower risk of disease, supporting the concept that optimal intake is needed for optimal vitamin C status, and that both factors are required for optimal health. Vitamin C has low toxicity in healthy subjects, but a clear definition of optimal status and the dietary intake required to meet and maintain this status is needed before a change in the current recommended intake can be considered. Available evidence suggests that intake of 200 mg vitamin C/d saturates tissues and maintains fasting plasma levels above the proposed threshold (50 μmol/l) for minimum risk of CHD. However, the issue of whether or not these levels produce ‘optimal vitamin C status' awaits the clear and accepted definition of the term. This definition in turn awaits the development of reliable functional markers capable of assessing the effects of varying levels of vitamin C nutriture. In the present paper the relationship between intake and body stores of vitamin C and the role of vitamin C in human health are reviewed briefly. The requirements of a reliable functional marker of human vitamin C status are defined, three classes of functional markers (molecular, biochemical and physiological) are described, and possible candidate markers are examined. Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1999 Vitamin C nationallicence Ascorbic acid nationallicence Antioxidants nationallicence Micronutrient status nationallicence Functional marker nationallicence Proceedings of the Nutrition Society Cambridge University Press 58/2(1999-05), 469-476 0029-6651 58:2<469 1999 58 PNS https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665199000610 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 conference jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665199000610 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Benzie Iris F. F. Department of Nursing & Health Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society Cambridge University Press 58/2(1999-05), 469-476 0029-6651 58:2<469 1999 58 PNS CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge