Vitamin C Minimizes Response to Psychological Stress By Hannah Cleaver BERLIN (Reuters Health) Jul 22 - Vitamin C supplements may provide beneficial effects for people under stress, according to the results of a new study. The findings indicate that individuals with high blood levels of ascorbic acid exhibit fewer physical and mental signs of stress when subjected to acute psychological stressors than do subjects with lower levels of vitamin C. The study, published in a recent issue of Psychopharmacology, showed that objective and subjective stress indicators were consistently lower in people with high levels of vitamin C. Recovery from a stressful situation was also faster. Dr. Stuart Brody led a team based at the University of Trier in Germany, which studied 120 patients, half of whom received 1000 mg of vitamin C in three sustained-release pills (Cetebe; GlaxoSmithBeecham, which also funded the study). Controls received placebo and were subjected to the same tests. Dr. Brody told Reuters Health that "the subjects were asked every 10 minutes how they rated their stress levels on a scale of 1 to 10. This continued even after the induced stress, for 40 minutes afterwards." The researchers also measured "objective measurements of stress, such as systolic blood pressure and levels of cortisol, the stress hormone." The Trier Social Stress Test, which includes mathematic tasks and public speaking, was used to induce stress, Dr. Brody explained. The tests were conducted every day for 2 weeks. Those taking the vitamin C dealt with stress better. The average increase in blood pressure was 31 mm Hg among the placebo subjects compared with 23 mm Hg for those on vitamin C. The return to normal blood pressure and cortisol levels was also faster for the test patients than for the controls. He added that people felt less stressed when they were saturated with vitamin C. "This kind of high dose of vitamin C improves stress management," he said. "And I would say that it should be considered as part of an approach to dealing with stress." Dr. Brody cautioned that "this is different vitamin C than you get from oranges, or even the general powder forms...I'm not sure you would get the same results from natural vitamin C." Psychopharmacology 2002:159:319-324. Thanks to Reuters Health. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.