ReviewRedox biology2020
On the effect of vitamin C intake on human health: How to (mis)interprete the clinical evidence.
Review in Redox biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vitamins C and D and COVID-19 Susceptibility, Severity and Progression: An Evidence Based Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Pooled it
- The effectiveness of high-dose intravenous vitamin C for patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Complementary therapies in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- Next-Generation Antioxidants in Cardiovascular Disease: Mechanistic Insights and Emerging Therapeutic Strategies.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Dietary guidance for pregnant women using DeepSeek-R1 and ChatGPT-4.0: a comparative analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Pathophysiological Role and Therapeutic Potential of Vitamin C in Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.Metabolites · 2025Review
- ARFID and a twist of lime- unravelling a case of paediatric scurvy.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Article
- Antioxidants and Reactive Oxygen Species: Shaping Human Health and Disease Outcomes.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Vitamin C: From Self-Sufficiency to Dietary Dependence in the Framework of Its Biological Functions and Medical Implications.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Herbal and Dietary Supplements as Adjunctive Treatment for Mild SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Italy.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Does COVID-19 Trigger the Risk for the Development of Parkinson's Disease? Therapeutic Potential of Vitamin C.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Review
- The Effects of Collagen Peptides as a Dietary Supplement on Muscle Damage Recovery and Fatigue Responses: An Integrative Review.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Green strength: The role of micronutrients in plant-based diets for athletic performance enhancement.Heliyon · 2024Review
- Nutrient intake and risk of multimorbidity: a prospective cohort study of 25,389 women.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Review
- SunGold Kiwifruit Consumption Restores Adequate to Optimal Vitamin C Status in People with a History of Severe Respiratory Infections.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Vitamin C intake and colorectal cancer survival according to KRAS and BRAF mutation: a prospective study in two US cohorts.British journal of cancer · 2023Article
- Article
- A Review on Natural Antioxidants for Their Role in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Expected and Unexpected Effects of Pharmacological Antioxidants.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
For decades, the potential beneficial effect of vitamin C on human health-beyond that of preventing scurvy-has been subject of much controversy. Hundreds of articles have appeared either in support of increased vitamin C intake through diet or supplements or rejecting the hypothesis that increased intake of vitamin C or supplementation may influence morbidity and mortality. The chemistry and pharmacology of vitamin C is complex and has unfortunately rarely been taken into account when designing clinical studies testing its effect on human health. However, ignoring its chemical lability, dose-dependent absorption and elimination kinetics, distribution via active transport, or complex dose-concentration-response relationships inevitably leads to poor study designs, inadequate inclusion and exclusion criteria and misinterpretation of results. The present review outlines the differences in vitamin C pharmacokinetics compared to normal low molecular weight drugs, focusses on potential pitfalls in study design and data interpretation, and re-examines major clinical studies of vitamin C in light of these.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.