Vitamin C has many health benefits. According to a new study, researchers have found that taking a daily dose of this nutrient can help ward off vascular disease in those who are overweight. They concluded that it could benefit the heart just like exercise.
Obesity is a growing predicament worldwide. In fact, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization, the number of obese people doubled since 1980. An estimated 1.9 billion adults are overweight and out of these, over 600 million are obese. Obesity predisposes a person to many health complications including cardiovascular diseases.
The study involved 35 obese and overweight adults. The researchers studied the effects of vitamin C and exercise on a protein called endothelin-1, the culprit in the constriction of small blood vessels, Medical News Today reports.
Endothelin-1 or also called preproendothelin-1 (PPET1) is a protein found in the human body. It is a potent vasoconstrictor peptide originally isolated from endothelial cells and its activity is raised in overweight and obese people. Thus, vessels are more prone to constriction that may put a person at risk of vascular diseases and heart attack.
In their study presented at the American Physiological Society's 14th International Conference on Endothelin, taking place in Savannah, GA., the researchers explained that exercise has been known to reduce the activity of this protein but compliance among obese and overweight people may not be promising because they find it challenging.
They examined if vitamin C supplements can lower the rate of ET-1 in the body. They divided the group into a treatment and control group. Twenty participants took daily supplements of vitamin C while 15 performed aerobic exercise training every day, Telegraph.co.uk reports.
The results showed that vasoconstriction to endothelin-1 increased similarly - about two-fold - in response to both interventions.
However, a report by Forbes says that it is not enough to replace exercise with vitamin C since the number of participants was limited and they did not lose significant amount of weight. It suggested that further study should be done.