Plasma Vitamin C Levels in Women During the Menstrual Cycle

Abstract

PHILLIPS, et al. (1, 2) demonstrated a marked increase in the plasma vitamin C level of cows on the day they came into heat. This increase was maintained for only a short time and the vitamin C in the plasma was back to the basal level 14 hours later. This has been confirmed by Sutton, et al. (3). The Wisconsin workers found a close correlation between the occurrence of these peaks of plasma vitamin C in cattle and the ability to breed them. In some cases, sterile cows, which showed no structural abnormalities of the reproductive tract, were converted into fertile ones by injecting intravenously large amounts of vitamin C just before breeding them. An attempt has been made in this study to determine whether women show a similar rise in the vitamin C content of fasting plasma during the menstrual cycle. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Most of the 8 subjects were nurses who received their meals at the Hospital dining rooms.