Vitamin C restores blood pressure and vasodilator response during mental stress in obese children.

Abstract

Peripheral vasodilation response plays an important role in the pathophysiology of obesity and heart disease.
To evaluate the chronic effect of vitamin C (VitC) supplementation on blood pressure and on vasodilation response to mental stress.
In a double-blind, randomized and prospective study we evaluated obese children with 8 to 12 years in 2 similar groups: 1) supplemented with 500 mg VitC (n = 11) and 2) placebo (n = 10) for 45 days. Eight age-matched lean control children were also studied. We evaluated: mean blood pressure (MBP), heart rate (HR) and forearm blood flow by venous occlusion plethismography. Forearm vascular conductance (FVC) was calculated by: (forearm blood flow/PAM) X100.
On pre-intervention evaluations obese children showed higher MBP and lower FVC compared to lean control children. After intervention VitC diminished MBP at rest (81 ± 2 vs 75 ± 1 mmHg, p = 0.01), whereas placebo did not promote changes in MBP (p = 0.58). In addition, VitC promoted FVC increase at rest (3.40 ± 0.5 vs 5.09 ± 0.6 un, p = 0.04) and during the mental stress (3.92 ± 0.5 vs 6.68 ± 0.9 un, p = 0.03). Moreover, after VitC supplementation FVC levels were similar to the lean control children at rest (5.09 ± 0.6 vs 5.82 ± 0.4 un, p > 0.05) and during mental stress (6.68 ± 0.9 vs 7.35 ± 0.5 un, p > 0.05).
VitC supplementation reduced the MBP and restored peripheral vasodilatation response during mental stress in obese children.