Abstract
BackgroundVitamin C is one of the most important micronutrient required for various physiological roles in the human system. Evidences suggest that there is an inadequate status of vitamin C in diabetes mellitus. The objectives of this study is to understand the prevalence of vitamin C deficiency in established type II diabetes mellitus patients and to study the correlation between various variables of diabetes mellitus with serum vitamin C levels.MethodsA prospective cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of vitamin C deficiency was carried out in diabetes patients. Fasting blood sugar levels, glycated hemoglobin, serum malondialdehyde levels, and lipid profile levels were correlated with serum vitamin C levels.ResultsThe prevalence rate of hypovitaminosis C is found to be 55.13% among the enrolled patients. There is a significant increase in the systolic blood pressure levels in patients with inadequate as well as deficient vitamin C levels (p < 0.05). Inverse relationship exists between fasting blood sugar and vitamin C levels (p < 0.001). Similarly total cholesterol levels were also inversely related to the vitamin C levels (p = 0.0031). Body mass index, glycated hemoglobin, and fasting blood sugar levels are important predictors of vitamin C deficiencies.ConclusionVitamin C deficiency is well established among diabetes mellitus patients. Deficiency of vitamin C levels has an impact on the serum malondialdehyde levels suggesting increased oxidative stress. The higher oxidative stress would have led to increase in glycated hemoglobin. Further research must be carried out to understand the beneficial effects of vitamin C supplementation in diabetes mellitus.
Highlights
Vitamin C is one of the most important micronutrient required for various physiological roles in the human system
The patients were categorized to three groups depending upon their serum vitamin C levels such as sufficient, Insufficient and deficient
There is a definite prevalence of vitamin C deficiency in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients
Summary
Vitamin C is one of the most important micronutrient required for various physiological roles in the human system. The role of ascorbic acid in various metabolic diseases has been researched upon ever since its discovery. Ascorbic acid is an important vitamin that has well established biological role due its antioxidant nature. One of the most common diseases affecting the global population is diabetes mellitus. The generation of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide anions could damage the islets of Langerhans the β cells resulting in reduced insulin release. These ROS affects the secondary signal transducers such as protein
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