Intravenous Vitamin C administration reduces fatigue in office workers: a double-blind randomized controlled trial

Abstract

BackgroundStudies of the efficacy of vitamin C treatment for fatigue have yielded inconsistent results. One of the reasons for this inconsistency could be the difference in delivery routes. Therefore, we planned a clinical trial with intravenous vitamin C administration.MethodsWe evaluated the effect of intravenous vitamin C on fatigue in office workers. A group of 141 healthy volunteers, aged 20 to 49 years participated in this randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. The trial group received 10 grams of vitamin C with normal saline intravenously, while the placebo group received normal saline only. Since vitamin C is a well-known antioxidant, oxidative stress was measured. Fatigue score, oxidative stress, and plasma vitamin C levels were measured before intervention, and again two hours and one day after intervention. Adverse events were monitored.ResultsThe fatigue scores measured at two hours after intervention and one day after intervention were significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.004); fatigue scores decreased in the vitamin C group after two hours and remained lower for one day. Trial also led to higher plasma vitamin C levels and lower oxidative stress compared to the placebo group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). When data analysis was refined by dividing each group into high-baseline and low-baseline subgroups, it was observed that fatigue was reduced in the lower baseline vitamin C level group after two hours and after one day (p = 0.004). The same did not hold for the higher baseline group (p = 0.206).ConclusionThus, intravenous vitamin C reduced fatigue at two hours, and the effect persisted for one day. There were no significant differences in adverse events between two groups. High dose intravenous vitamin C proved to be safe and effective against fatigue in this study.Trial RegistrationThe clinical trial registration of this trial is http://ClinicalTrials.govNCT00633581.

Effect of Intravenous High Dose Vitamin C on Postoperative Pain and Morphine Use after Laparoscopic Colectomy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Suh et al reported that intravenous infusion of vitamin C resulted in reduced fatigue among office workers and speculated that cancer patients and other groups who are at risk of vitamin C deficiency would exhibit even better responses [25]. However, our study did not support this.…”

Mood improvement in young adult males following supplementation with gold kiwifruit, a high-vitamin C food

“…Apparently healthy individuals have also benefited from vitamin C supplementation with respect to depression, stress and fatigue ( 38 – 41 ) . Fatigue and irritability are common symptoms in individuals with subclinical vitamin C deficiency and are resolved with vitamin C supplementation ( 3 ) .…”

Efficacy and Safety of High-dose Vitamin C on Complex Regional Pain Syndrome in Extremity Trauma and Surgery—Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…High-dose vitamin C has been postulated to be beneficial for many conditions (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32) and is relatively safe in healthy individuals Table 1 Terms used for an electronic search. At least one term from each group had to be in the search for a study to be retrieved Group (22,(32)(33)(34)(35). However, some adverse effects have been reported.…”