Combined vitamin C and E deficiency results severe central nervous system damage in a matter of days

Thread: Combined vitamin C and E deficiency results severe central nervous system damage in a matter of days

Search this list only Search all lists
Combined vitamin C and E deficiency results severe central nervous system damage in a matter of days
	2006-05-19 19:25:04
damage in a matter of days An article published in the June, 2006 issue of the Journal of Nutrition detailed the findings of researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee that giving guinea pigs diets that are deficient in vitamin C and vitamin E results in severe central nervous system damage within 5 to 15 days. Because most animals make their own vitamin C, the current study used guinea pigs that, like humans, cannot manufacture vitamin C, and are therefore susceptible to becoming deficient in the vitamin. Sixteen guinea pigs were fed vitamin E deficient diets and 8 animals were fed diets with adequate vitamin E for two weeks, following which each group was divided to receive either a vitamin C deficient or replete diet in combination with their previous regimens. From the fifth day after beginning the vitamin C deficient diets, 9 guinea pigs out of the 12 who received diets deficient in both vitamins C and E experienced hind leg weakness or paralysis, and two of the animals died between the tenth and eleventh days. Only one guinea pig in this group survived 15 days. None of the animals in the other three groups showed any signs of neurological damage, and examination of the animals' brains and spinal cords confirmed that only guinea pigs with combined deficiencies had central nervous system damage, including nerve cell death, axonal degeneration, and vascular injury. The authors suggest that blood vessel injury may have been the primary cause of the central nervous system injury observed in the paralyzed animals. They note that some of the effects observed in experiments involving vitamin C or vitamin E deficiency alone were seen in the current study; the difference being that "the double deficiency quickly produces lethal effects, whereas the single deficiencies require longer times to produce their lesser effects." Regards, Catherine "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." -- Douglas Adams