1. Vitamin C deficiency
Domina Petric, MD

2. Factors contributing to vitamin C deficiency
Vitamin C deficiency can be caused by low dietary intakes.
Deficiency may be also caused by conditions in which the metabolic demands for ascorbic acid may exceed the rate of its endogenous biosynthesis, thus increasing the turnover of the vitamin in the body.
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

3. Factors contributing to vitamin C deficiency
smoking
environmental/physical stress
chronic disease
diabetes
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

4. General signs of vitamin C deficiency
Organ system/function
Signs
Appetite
Decreased
Growth
Immunity
Heat resistance
Muscular
Skeletal muscle atrophy
Vessels
Increased capillary fragility, hemorrhage
Nervous
Tenderness
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

5. Scurvy
Classic scurvy is manifested in human adults after 45–80 days of stopping vitamin C consumption.
Signs of the disease occur primarily in mesenchymal tissues.
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

6. Scurvy impaired wound healing edema
Defects in collagen formation are manifested as:
impaired wound healing
edema
hemorrhage (due to deficient formation of intercellular substance) in the skin, mucous membranes, internal organs and muscles
weakening of collagenous structures in bone, cartilage, teeth and connective tissues
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

7. Scurvy
Scorbutic adults may present with swollen, bleeding gums with tooth loss.
Wikipedia.org
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

8. Scurvy
Patients also show lethargy, fatigue, rheumatic pains in the legs, muscular atrophy, skin lesions, massive sheet hematomas in the thighs, ecchymoses and hemorrhages in many organs (intestines, subperiosteal tissues and eyes).
These features are frequently accompanied by psychological changes: hysteria, hypochondria and depression.
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

9. Moeller-Barlow disease
In children the syndrome is called Moeller-Barlow disease.
It is seen in non-breastfed infants usually at about 6 months of age: when maternally derived stores of vitamin C have been exhausted.
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

10. Moeller-Barlow disease
It is characterized by:
widening of bone-cartilage boundaries, particularly of the rib cage
stressed epiphyseal cartilage of the extremities
severe joint pain
anemia
fever
Wordnik
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

11. Moeller-Barlow disease
Scorbutic children may present with a limp or an inability to walk, tenderness of the lower limbs, bleeding of the gums and petechial hemorrhages.
Response to vitamin C is dramatic: clinical improvements are seen within a week of vitamin C therapy.
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

12. Pharmacologic uses of vitamin C
Saturation of vitamin C occurs at intakes of about 100 mg/day.
Higher intakes can result in elevated concentrations of the vitamin in extracellular fluids (plasma, connective tissue fluid, humors of the eye): pharmacologic antioxidant action.
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

13. cardiovascular diseases hypercholesterolemia hypertriglyceridemia
Gram-size doses of vitamin C have been advocated for the prophylaxis/treatment of:
common cold
Herpes simplex
general immune support
cardiovascular diseases
hypercholesterolemia
hypertension
hypertriglyceridemia
diabetes
some types of cancer
November 14, 2018
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc

14. Literature
Combs GF. The Vitamins. Fundamental Aspects in Nutrition and Health. Elsevier Inc
November 14, 2018