Working Paper Review Version 1 This version is not peer-reviewed

Factors Affecting Vitamin C Status and Prevalence of Deficiency: A Global Health Perspective

Version 1 : Received: 3 June 2020 / Approved: 4 June 2020 / Online: 4 June 2020 (03:49:42 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Carr, A.C.; Rowe, S. Factors Affecting Vitamin C Status and Prevalence of Deficiency: A Global Health Perspective. Nutrients 2020, 12, 1963. Carr, A.C.; Rowe, S. Factors Affecting Vitamin C Status and Prevalence of Deficiency: A Global Health Perspective. Nutrients 2020, 12, 1963.

Abstract

A recent review of global vitamin C status indicated a high prevalence of deficiency, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, as well as in specific subgroups within high-income countries. Here we provide a narrative of potential factors influencing vitamin C status. The in vivo status of vitamin C is primarily affected by dietary intake and supplement use. Dietary intake can be influenced by cultural aspects such as staple foods and traditional cooking practices. Environmental factors can also affect vitamin C intake and status; these include geographic region, season and climate, as well as pollution. Demographic factors such as sex, age, and race are known to affect vitamin C status, as do socioeconomic factors such as deprivation, education and social class, and institutionalization. Various health aspects affect vitamin C status; these include body weight, pregnancy and lactation, genetic variants, smoking, and disease states, including severe infections as well as various non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Some of these factors have changed over time, therefore we also explore if vitamin C status has shown temporal changes. Overall, there are numerous factors that can affect vitamin C status to different extents in various regions of the world. Many of these factors are not taken into consideration during the setting of global recommended dietary intakes for vitamin C.

Keywords

vitamin C; vitamin C status; vitamin C deficiency; global health; dietary intake; obesity; smoking; communicable disease; infection; non-communicable disease

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Dietetics and Nutrition

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