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Re-analysis of landmark vitamin C trial data reveals current recommendations for intake may be too low for optimal health.

During World War II, researchers in England conducted an experiment to determine the level at which vitamin C depletion causes scurvy, a potentially life-threatening collagen-related disorder. A re-analysis of these findings calls into question current recommendations for vitamin C intake.

The study involved 20 healthy men who had been fed a diet providing 60 to 70 milligrams of vitamin C daily for about one month. The researchers randomly assigned the men to receive zero, 10, or 70 milligrams of vitamin C daily. Because vitamin C plays such an important role in wound healing, the researchers subjected the participants to experimental wounds and then assessed the scar strength to gauge the effects of depletion. They concluded that a dose of 10 milligrams of vitamin C daily was sufficient for optimal scar strength. The study’s findings formed the basis of public health recommendations that soon followed and, in some countries, are still observed today.

However, the authors of the present-day article posited that the data analysis from the World War II-era study was flawed. They subjected the data to a new analysis, which revealed that the daily intake of vitamin C for providing adequate scar strength is 95 milligrams – twice the amount recommended by the World Health Organization and the National Health Service of the United Kingdom.

These findings suggest that the landmark study on which some public health recommendations base their recommendations for vitamin C intake grossly underestimated the dose required for wound healing and optimal health. Learn more about vitamin C in our overview article.

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