The Contribution of Plasma and Brain Vitamin C on Age and Gender-Related Cognitive Differences: A Mini-Review of the Literature

Travica, Nikolaj; Ried, Karin; Hudson, Irene L.; Sali, Avni; Scholey, Andrew; Pipingas, Andrew

doi:10.3389/fnint.2020.00047

Cited by 21 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 167 publications

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“…This study demonstrated that high plasma vitamin C levels were associated with improved attention, focus, working memory, decision speed, delayed and total recall, and recognition [ 46 ]. Until recently, Travica and colleagues conducted a systemic review and highlighted the gender differences in plasma and brain vitamin C levels, which may further contribute to differences in gender-associated cognitive ability [ 47 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mendelian randomization to evaluate the effect of plasma vitamin C levels on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Liu

Zhang

et al. 2021

Genes Nutr

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Objective Until now, observational studies have explored the impact of vitamin C intake on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk, however, reported ambiguous findings. To develop effective therapies or prevention, the causal link between vitamin C levels and AD should be established. Methods Here, we selected 11 plasma vitamin C genetic variants from a large-scale plasma vitamin C GWAS dataset (N = 52,018) as the potential instrumental variables. We extracted their corresponding summary statistics from large-scale IGAP clinically diagnosed AD GWAS dataset (N = 63,926) and UK Biobank AD proxy phenotype GWAS dataset (N = 314,278), as well as two UK Biobank subgroups including the maternal AD group (27,696 cases of maternal AD and 260,980 controls) and paternal AD group (14,338 cases of paternal AD and 245,941 controls). We then performed a Mendelian randomization (MR) study to evaluate the causal association between plasma vitamin C levels and the risk of AD and AD proxy phenotype. Meanwhile, we further verified these findings using a large-scale cognitive performance GWAS dataset (N = 257,841). Results In IGAP, we found no significant causal association between plasma vitamin C levels and the risk of AD. In UK Biobank, we found that per 1 SD increase in plasma vitamin C levels (about 20.2 μmol/l) was significantly associated with the reduced risk of AD proxy phenotype (OR = 0.93, 95% CI 0.88–0.98, P = 7.00E−03). A subgroup MR analysis in UK Biobank indicated that per 1 SD increase in plasma vitamin C levels could significantly reduce the risk of AD proxy phenotype in the maternal AD group (OR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.84–0.94, P = 7.29E−05), but not in the paternal AD group (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.92–1.12, P = 7.59E−01). The leave-one-out permutation further showed that the SLC23A1 rs33972313 variant largely changed the precision of the overall MR estimates in all these four GWAS datasets. Meanwhile, we did not observe any significant causal effect of plasma vitamin C levels on the cognitive performance. Conclusion We demonstrated that there may be no causal association between plasma vitamin C levels and the risk of AD in people of European descent. The insistent findings in clinically diagnosed AD and AD proxy phenotype may be caused by the phenotypic heterogeneity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mendelian randomization to evaluate the effect of plasma vitamin C levels on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Liu

Zhang

et al. 2021

Genes Nutr

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“…(60) Gender differences were only considered in one trial, (47) which were averaged for the purpose of our analysis. It has recently been proposed that plasma and tissue vitamin C may be regulated diversely between genders, (96) suggesting that gender may be a variable that should be considered when assessing perioperative vitamin C concentrations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of surgery on plasma/serum vitamin C concentrations: a systematic review and meta-analysis

et al. 2020

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Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a water soluble vitamin with an array of biological functions. A number of proposed factors contribute to the vitamin’s plasma bioavailability and ability to exert optimal functionality. The aim of this review was to systematically assess plasma vitamin C levels post-surgery compared with pre-surgery/ the magnitude and timeframe of potential changes in concentration. We searched the PUBMED, SCOPUS, SciSearch and the Cochrane Library databases between 1970 to April 2020 for relevant research papers. Prospective studies, control groups and true placebo groups derived from controlled trials that reported means and standard deviations of plasma vitamin C concentrations pre and post operatively were included into the meta-analysis. Data were grouped into short-term (≤7 days) and long term (> 7 days) post-operative follow-up. 23 of 31 studies involving 642 patients included in the systematic review were suitable for meta-analysis. Pooled data from the meta-analysis revealed a mean depletion of plasma vitamin C concentration of -17.99 µmol/L (39% depletion) (CI = -22.81, -13.17) (trial arms = 25, n = 565, p < 0.001) during the first post-operative week and -18.80 µmol/L (21% depletion) (-25.04, -12.56) (trial arms = 6, n = 166, p < 0.001) 2-3 months post-operatively. Subgroup analyses revealed that these depletions occurred following different types of surgery, however, high heterogeneity was observed amongst trials assessing concentration change during the first post-operative week. Overall, our results warrant larger, long term investigations of changes in post-operative plasma vitamin C concentrations and their potential effects on clinical symptomology.

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“…The researchers found an effect of sex on the vitamin C distribution in the plasma and the brain. This sex difference may contribute to sex-associated cognitive ability [ 185 ]. These intriguing results require further investigation, and potential confounding variables must be identified ( Table 2 ).…”

Section: Vitamin Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the Impact of Selected Vitamins Deficiencies on the Risk of Disability in Older People

et al. 2021

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Vitamin deficiencies have a serious impact on healthy aging in older people. Many age-related disorders have a direct or indirect impact on nutrition, both in terms of nutrient assimilation and food access, which may result in vitamin deficiencies and may lead to or worsen disabilities. Frailty is characterized by reduced functional abilities, with a key role of malnutrition in its pathogenesis. Aging is associated with various changes in body composition that lead to sarcopenia. Frailty, aging, and sarcopenia all favor malnutrition, and poor nutritional status is a major cause of geriatric morbidity and mortality. In the present narrative review, we focused on vitamins with a significant risk of deficiency in high-income countries: D, C, and B (B6/B9/B12). We also focused on vitamin E as the main lipophilic antioxidant, synergistic to vitamin C. We first discuss the role and needs of these vitamins, the prevalence of deficiencies, and their causes and consequences. We then look at how these vitamins are involved in the biological pathways associated with sarcopenia and frailty. Lastly, we discuss the critical early diagnosis and management of these deficiencies and summarize potential ways of screening malnutrition. A focused nutritional approach might improve the diagnosis of nutritional deficiencies and the initiation of appropriate clinical interventions for reducing the risk of frailty. Further comprehensive research programs on nutritional interventions are needed, with a view to lowering deficiencies in older people and thus decreasing the risk of frailty and sarcopenia.

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The Contribution of Plasma and Brain Vitamin C on Age and Gender-Related Cognitive Differences: A Mini-Review of the Literature

Cited by 21 publications

References 167 publications

Mendelian randomization to evaluate the effect of plasma vitamin C levels on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Mendelian randomization to evaluate the effect of plasma vitamin C levels on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

The effects of surgery on plasma/serum vitamin C concentrations: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Analysis of the Impact of Selected Vitamins Deficiencies on the Risk of Disability in Older People

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