Reducing stress with vitamin C - Blood Pressure - medical research - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Oct, 2002

Can an orange a day keep the doctor away? No, but according to an American-German study, taking vitamin C supplements throughout the day can measurably reduce the effects of stress. Blood pressure was significantly lower in people subjected to a stressful situation--public speaking--after they had taken two 500-mg sustained-release vitamin C capsules four times a day for 14 days.

According to Stuart Brody, a researcher at The Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, the University of Tubingen, Germany, a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial at the University of Trier, Germany, using 120 male and female subjects in the 20-40 age group, found that "supplementing with sustained-release vitamin C, at doses of three grams a day, blunts the rise in blood pressure and anxiety accompanying acute psychological stress. The amount of vitamin C in the blood among the subjects receiving the vitamin C supplements would be highly unlikely to result from the diet alone.

"Blood pressure just before the stress, and up to 40 minutes after, was significantly lower in the vitamin C group. The subjects on vitamin C also reported significantly less stress and anxiety after the stressful situation. We also found no greater incidence of side effects associated with the supplement, compared to the placebo."