Vitamins 'may undo exercise boost'

"Taking vitamins C and E after a workout appears to prevent physical exercise improving the body's energy regulation, a study found. Some vitamins can block this beneficial effect of exercise, the new findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggest. Exercise is known to increase sensitivity to the hormone insulin, which governs the way cells use sugar as an energy source. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body becomes resistant and less sensitive to insulin. Ironically, it is the supplements' health-boosting properties that appear to be to blame" - Yahoo

Vitamin C connected to low blood pressure In young women

"A new survey conducted in young females connects high vitamin C in the bloodstream with lower blood pressure. This finding 'strongly suggests that vitamin C is specifically important in maintaining a healthy blood pressure,' lead author Dr. Gladys Block, of the University of California, Berkeley, said. Prior data connected high plasma levels of vitamin C with healthier blood pressure in the middle-aged and older, usually with unhealthy blood pressure, Block and colleagues stated. The new study took 242 black and white women, about 18 and 21 years old, with healthy blood pressure, who previously participated in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. The women entered the study at the age of 8 to 11 years old. In 10 years, their plasma levels of vitamin C and blood pressure were closely followed" - redOrbit

Your health: Vitamin C true to the heart

"Good old vitamin C - plenty of which is found in oranges - made its name in the 1980s largely due to the efforts of two-time Nobel Prize winner, the late Linus Pauling. Part of that early excitement died with him. However, it may soon be back in the news. Maybe in an even bigger way. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient. It is required for a range of essential metabolic reactions in all animals and plants. It is produced internally by almost all organisms, humans being the most well-known among them. Its deficiency causes the disease scurvy. A study carried out by University of California, Berkeley, researchers found that supplementing with vitamin C reduces C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The trial leader, Berkeley professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Public Health Nutrition, Gladys Block, and team randomly allowed 396 nonsmokers to receive 1,000 milligrammes of vitamin C, 800 international units vitamin E, or a placebo for two months. They were measuring and tracking serum C-reactive protein levels during the treatment period" More at NST online

Vitamins C and E do not cut heart attack, stroke risk

"Neither vitamin C nor vitamin E supplements cuts the risk of cardiovascular disease including heart attack and stroke in a U.S. study published on Sunday. And a second study failed to show that taking low-dose aspirin helped prevent heart and artery disease among Japanese people with diabetes. Many people take vitamin supplements to try to ward off chronic disease. In a study aiming to establish whether they prevent heart disease, 14,641 doctors with an average age of 64 took either vitamin C, vitamin E or a placebo for an average of about eight years. The men who took the vitamins ended up doing no better than those who took a placebo, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association" - Reuters