Vitamin C and obesity: problems and solutions

Abstract

Obesity, a largely intractable health condition with incalculable health and financial and social costs and ramifications remains an immense challenge to mitigate effectively. Multiple interventions to offset obesity, and to mitigate its negative impact, while studied and implemented for many years, have generally failed to eliminate this growing global epidemic. Alternately, interventions that can limit the onset of obesity, or help to reduce this where present, including efforts to contain pain, depression, and lack of energy, would appear of high significance. Studied for over 40 years, various anti oxidants are proving to be of possible adjunctive benefit in efforts to reduce excess weight, and associated inflammatory responses, pain, and depression that are encountered by overweight persons. This mini review discusses some findings regarding vitamin C or ascorbic acid, a key ingredient of fruits and vegetables, and whether more emphasis on ensuring adequate vitamin C intake has a possible role in attenuating selected correlates of the global obesity burden. Extracted from current literature, it is concluded that this is a field of significant promise, but one requiring more insightful research, multiple intervention approaches, and dedicated collaborators.