• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.306-312
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• 2001

We investigated the effect of physical exercise on the intakes and plasma levels of vitamin C and E in young male adults. The study population were divided into two groups: small-amount exercisers($\leq$ 30min/day, n=29) and moderate-amount exercisers(> 30min/day, n=32) according to their physical exercise habits measured by a questionnaire. Dietary intakes of vitamin C and E of the subjects were estimated by the 24 hour recall method. Plasma lipid profiles, vitamin C, $\alpha$-tocopherol and ${\gamma}$-tocopherol levels were analyzed. No significant differences were observed in total cholesterol, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C of plasma between two groups. Plasma vitamin C and $\alpha$-tocopherol levels in moderate-amount exercisers were significantly higher than those in small-amount exercisers, although dietary intakes of vitamin C and vitamin E were not significantly different between two groups. However, plasma ${\gamma}$-tocopherol level of moderate-amount exercisers did not significantly differ from small-amount exercisers. There was a positive correlation between the amount of exercise and plasma $\alpha$-tocopherol level. These results suggest that moderate amount of exercise over 30 min per day would lead to a healthy life with an activated antioxidant defence system against oxidative stress.(Korean J Nutrition 34(3) : 306~312, 2001)

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1244-1253
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• 1998

This study investigated the effects of vitamin C supplementation on immune status in smoking and nonsmoking male college students. Blood samples were obtained from 15 healthy smoking and from 15 healthy nonsmoking volunteers before and 4 weeks after vitamin C supplementation (1000mg/day). Daily nutrient intakes was also calculated. Plasma vitamin C, E, and A concentrations, white blood cells and subpopulations, lymphocytes and subpopulations, NK cell percentage,plasma immunoglobulin A, G, M and complement C3, plasma interleukin-2 , and prostagladin E2 were measured . Daily vitamin C consumption was lower in smokers than in nonsmokers. Vitamin C supplementation significantly increased plasma vitamin C in smokers, and increased NK cell percentage in smokers and nonsmokers. Plasma IL-2 concentrations were significantly increased by vitamin C supplementation in nonsmokers, and decreased helpe $r^pressor T cell ratio were decreased by vitamin C supplementatiion , but the differences were not significant. White blood cells and subpopulation percentage and plasma prostaglandin E2 concentration were not affected by smoking and vitamin C supplementation. These findings as nonsmokers.rs.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.297-304
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• 1998

Cigarette smoking is a well known risk factor for cardiovascular disease and has negative effects on blood lipid and lipoprotein . Some of the associations between smoking and chronic disease can be attributed to the less healthful lifestyles of smokers. A large body of epidemiologic evidence suggests inverse relationships between ischemic heart disease and plasma vitamin C and E concentrations . Smokers have lower plasma concentrations of these vitamins than do nonsmokers. Smokers therefore need antioxidant vitamin supplementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect vitamin supplementation on plasma lipid patterns in smoking college men. 24subjects were divided into 3 groups of which were the vitamin C supplementation group (n=8), the vitamin E supplementation group(n=8) and the vitamin C+E supplementation group(n=8). The vitamin C supplementation group consumed 500mg of ascorbic acid, the vitamin E supplementation group consumed 200IU of D-$\alpha$-tocopherol, and the vitamin C+E supplementation group consumed 500mg of ascorbic acid+ 200IU of D-$\alpha$-tocopherol for 4 weeks. We examined the plasma lipid patterns before and after the vitamins were supplemented. The results obtained were as follows ; In the vitamin C supplementation group, the concentration of total cholesterol decreased significantly and HDL-cholesterol increased significantly with the supplementation of vitamin. In the vitamin E and vitamin C+E supplementation groups, however, there were no significant differences observed with the supplementation of vitamin. Concentration of plasma LDL, triglyceride, free fatty acid were not significantly affected by the supplementation of vitamin in all groups. In terms of plasma fatty acid composition, the concentrations of saturated fatty acid were not significantly affected by the supplementation of vitamin in all groups. The concentrations of palmitoleic acid, arachidonic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid, however, significantly increased in the vitamin E supplementation group(p<0.05). The concentration of plasma linoleic acid significantly increased in the vitamin C+ E supplementation group)(p<0.05). The results of this study show that antioxidant vitamin supplementation in smokers has a tendency to decrease coronary heart disease risk in view of the plasma total cholestrol and HDL-cholesterol concentrations of the vitamin C supplementation group and fatty acid concentration of the vitamin E supplementation group.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1180-1187
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• 1997

Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor of atherosclerosis and has been reported to contain an abundance of free radical species which could be expected to deplete antioxidants such as vitamin C . The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between smoking, plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentration, and plasma vitamin C level. Fifty-five healthy male smokers and 32 non-smokers were investigated in the study. Mean age, body weight , BMI and blood pressure made no differences in both smokers and non-smokers. Significantly, smokers has higher plasma total cholesterol and LDL-C , and lower HDL-C /LDL-C ratio compared with non-smokers. Plasma level of thiobartiturin acid reactive substances(TBARS), indicator of lipid peroxidation and increased susceptibility of LDL towards lipid perosidation, were elevated in smokers(p<0.001), while the plasma vitamin C level of smokers was significantly lower than that of non-smokers(p<0.05), indicating that elevated lipid peroxidation are associated with decreased plasma vitamin C content. In non-smokers a significantly positive correlation was observed between dietary vitamin C intake and plasma levels, but no such association observed in smokers. Lack of such a relationship and the decreased plasma vitamin C level in the smokers suggest that smoking may cause increased turnover of the plasma antioxidant. Consuquently, the sustained free radical load derived from smoking causes an imbalance in oxidant/antioxidant status and it could be expected that cigarette smoking renders plasma LDL more susceptible to oxidative modification . In the present study the possible explanations for that cigarette smokers have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease include the changes of blood lipid and lipoprotein concentration, and plasma vitamin C status which might have protective functions against free radicals -medaited lipid peroxidation.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.775-780
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• 1999

We investigated the effects of antioxidant vitamins supplementation on antioxidative status and plasma lipid profile in female Korean non-insulin diabetes mellitus(NIDDM) patients. Forty-five patients were groups by types of vitamin to take into three groups-Vitam in E group(400IU/day, n=15), Vitamin C group (1,000mg/day, n=15) and Vitamin E plus C group (400 IU plus 1,000mg/day). Supplementation period was 4 weeks. After vitamins supplementation, plasma vitamin E concentration significantly increased in vitamin E and vitamin E + C group, but plasma retinol concentration were not affected by vitamin E or vitamin C supplementation. And plasma levels of lipid peroxide measured as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances(TBARS), indicator of lipid peroxidation and increased susceptibility of LDL towards lipid peroxidation, were significantly decreased in all three groups after vitamins supplementation. Also catalase activities in erythrocytes were significantly decreased after antioxidant vitamin supplementation in all subjects. And after vitamins supplementation, post prandial 2 hour glucose and total cholesterol levels was decreased in all subjects. And after vitamins supplementation, post prandial 2 hour glucose and total cholesterol levels was decreased in all patients, especially there was a significant difference in vitamin C, Vitamin E + C group. In this study, antioxidant vitamins supplementation might have a protective function against the free radical-mediated lipid peroxidation and decrease the plasma total cholesterol levels in Korean female NIDDM patients.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.398-403
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Atopic dermatitis (AD), a chronic inflammatory skin disease, is accompanied by disruption of the epidermal lipid barrier, of which ceramide (Cer) is the major component. Recently it was reported that vitamin C is essential for de novo synthesis of Cer in the epidermis and that the level of vitamin C in plasma is decreased in AD. The objective of this study was to determine the associations among clinical severity, vitamin C in either plasma or epidermis, and Cer in the epidermis of patients with AD. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 17 patients (11 male and 6 female) aged 20-42 years were enrolled. The clinical severity of AD was assessed according to the SCORAD (SCORing Atopic Dermatitis) system. Levels of vitamin C were determined in plasma and biopsies of lesional epidermis. Levels of epidermal lipids, including Cer, were determined from tape-stripped lesional epidermis. RESULTS: The clinical severity of patients ranged between 0.1 and 45 (mild to severe AD) based on the SCORAD system. As the SCORAD score increased, the level of vitamin C in the plasma, but not in the epidermis, decreased, and levels of total Cer and Cer2, the major Cer species in the epidermis, also decreased. There was also a positive association between level of vitamin C in the plasma and level of total Cer in the epidermis. However, levels of epidermal total lipids including triglyceride, cholesterol, and free fatty acid (FFA) were not associated with either SCORAD score or level of vitamin C in the plasma of all subjects. CONCLUSIONS: As the clinical severity of AD increased, level of vitamin C in the plasma and level of epidermal Cer decreased, and there was a positive association between these two parameters, implying associations among plasma vitamin C, epidermal Cer, and the clinical severity of AD.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.167-178
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• 2000

The effect of oral vitamin e (800IU/day) and C (500mg/day) supplementation for 10 days and/or smoking cessation for 5 days on oxidative damage to the red blood cells (RBC) of male smokers (22.2$\pm$0.2 years old) was studied. RBC were tested for their ability to protect against smoking-induced oxidative damage by measuring heme proteins (carboxyhemoglobin, hemoglobin, methemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin), hemolysis and thiobarbiturinc acid reactive substances (TBARS). Plasma levels of vitamin c, A, E, $\beta$-catotene, total cholesterol, glutamic pyruvic transaminase(GPT) and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase(GOT) were also analyzed. In experiment one, a comparison was made of heme proteins and lipid damage to RBC, plasma antioxidant status (indexed by plasma levels of vitamin C, E, A and $\beta$-carotene) between smokers(n=56) and non-smokers (n=16). No differences were found in plasma antioxidant status, heme protein damage and TBARS concentration of RBC. In experiment two, 46 fasting male smokers from experiment one were divided into 4 groups. The groups were smoking with placebo group(SP, n=14), smoking cessation with vitamins supplementatin group (SV, n=13), smoking cessation with placebo group (NSP, n=9) and smoking cessation with vitamins supplementation group (NSV, n=10). After supplementing antioxidant vitamins, significant increases were seen in plasma vitamins supplementation group (NSV, n=10). After supplementing antioxidant vitamins, significant increases were seen plasma vitamin C (p<0.05) and vitamin E levels (p<0.05). The plasma vitamin E level was highest in the NSV group. Vitmain E and C supplementation provided some protection against heme proteins and lipid damage by lowering methemoglobin, hemolysis and TBARS concentration of RBC. Smoking cessation significantly decreased TBARS of RBC and plasma total cholesterol concentration. Supplementing vitamin E and C with smoking cessation considerably lowered plasma total cholesterol. These results point to a special association among smoking, oxidative damage and plasma antioxidant vitamin status. They indicate that increases in plasma antioxidant status can be detected after the supplementation of vitamin C and E and that smoking cessation had an additional effect on plasma vitamin E level. The present data suggest that improved antioxidant status induced by antioxidant supplementation or smoking cessation may help prevent oxidative damage in smokers.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2004

Body antioxidant status is an important factor for the prevention of many chronic diseases in the elderly. This study was done to investigate antioxidant status and its relationship to immune response by measuring plasma cytokine (IL-2 and IL-6) levels in elderly women. Subjects were 76 elderly women aged over 60 years, visiting Jangwhi Social Welfare Center of Seongbook-Gu in Seoul. Subjects were divided into 3 groups according to age (< 65, 65 - 74, > 75). Dietary intakes were assessed by semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires (SFFQ). Plasma vitamin C level was measured by 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine method and plasma levels of vitamin E, A and ${\beta}$-carotene were measured by HPLC. Plasma levels of IL-2 and IL-6 were determined with a solid phase sandwich enzyme linked-immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) using commercial kits. The average intakes of antioxidant vitamins were 96.3mg (137.5% of RDA) for vitamin C and 523.3 ${\mu}$gRE (74.8% of RDA) for vitamin A in elderly women. All of the average plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins were within normal range. However the percentage of the elderly women with deficiency plus marginal values were 7.9% in vitamin C, 9.2% in vitamin A and 7.9% in vitamin E. Plasma levels of IL-2 and IL-6 were 27.1${\pm}$7.1pg/ml and 5.9${\pm}$5.3pg/ml in elderly women. Correlation data showed that plasma IL-2 level was negatively correlated with plasma vitamin C level. In addition, IL-6 level was also negatively correlated with plasma vitamin C, A and E levels, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between erythrocyte thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance(TB-ARS) level and plasma IL-2 or IL-6 levels. In addition, erythrocyte TBARS level showed a significant positive correlation with plasma total antioxidant status (TAS) level and a significant negative correlation with plasma vitamin C level. Overall results might imply that the decreased levels of antioxidant vitamins result in an increase in oxidative stress and thereby increase cytokine production such as IL-2 and IL-6. However further research is required to elucidate these relationships.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1254-1262
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• 1998

This study has done to investigate the relationship between the icreased lipid oncentration caused by smoking and plama levels of vitamin A and vitamin E, antiodative enzyme activity, and lipid peroxidation , in 52 male smokers and 32 non-smokers, Dietary vitamin A and vitamin E intake was imilar in both smokers and non-smokers. Absolute plasma concentrations of vitamin A and vitamin E were not significantly different between two groups, whereas vitamin E/cholesterol ration in plasma was low or in smokers than in that of non-smokers(p<0.05). It was considered that this lowered effect was due to the elevated plasma lipid concentration rather than oxidant stress derived from smoking, in view of the fact that smokers had higher cholesterol (15.2%) adn LDL-C(26.6%) levels than non-smokers. In non-smokers, plasma thiobarbiturin acid reactive substances(TBARS) conrrelated positively with total cholesterol(r=0.63466, p<0.001), LDL-C level(r=0.57166, p<0.01) , and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio(r=0.45926, p<0.05) . Activities of glutathione perosidase(GSH-Px) , superoside dismutase(SOD), and catalse made no difference in both groups. However, it was observed in non-smokers that GSH-Px activity had negative correlations with total cholesterol(r=-0.67293, p<0.001), LDL-C level(r=-0.62878, p<0.001), and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio (r=-0.58824, p<0.01), indicating that there was a dependent relationship between lipid perosidation and plasma lipid level. The smokers also showed negative correlations for GSH-Px activity with total cholesterol (r=-0.29946, p<0.05) and LDL-c level (r=0.45914, p<0.001), and LDL-C/HDL-c ratio(r=-0.35438, p<0.05). It seemed that the lipid that the lipid level elevated by sustaines smoking resulted in reducing vitamin E/cholesterol ratio and proportion of antioxidant to oxidant load, and then GSH-Px activity, with insufficient removal of free radicals(TBARS 2.43$\pm$0.51 and 1.81$\pm$0.15nmol/ml in smokers and non-smokers, respectively). These findings suggest that higher plasma lipid levels may play a more important role in perturbing the antioxidant defense system including vitamin E status and GSH-Px activity, at least in circumstances that increase lipid concentration . In addition, in exposure to free radicals like those in cigarette smoke. In those cases the ratio of vitamin E/lipid in plasma can be a more indicator of vitamin E status than plasma levels of vitamin E alone.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2002

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of regular exercise and other relating factors on the activities of erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes and plasma total radical-trapping antioxidant potential (TRAP) in 61 healthy male college students. The study population were divided in two groups ; small amount of exerciser (exorcise time less than 30min/d) and moderate amount of exerciser (exorcise time more than 30min/d) according to their physical exercise habits measured by a questionnaire. Dietary intake of vitamin C and vitamin E, Plasma lipid Profiles, erythrocyte superoxide dismutase(SOD), glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) and catalase activities, as well as plasma TRAP levels were determined. Plasma TRAP level was significantly higher in moderate amount of exercisers than that in small amount of exercisers. No significant differences were observed in erythrocryte SOD, catalase and GSH-Px between the two groups. Mean exercise time was positively correlated with the plasma level of TRAP significantly, and amount of alcohol consumption was negatively correlated with the erythrocyte SOD activity, Dietary vitamin C and I intakes did not correlated with either erythrocyte enzyme activities or plasma TRAP levels. There were positive correlations between plasma HDL-cholesterol, and erythrocyte GSH-Px or plasma TRAP levels. Plasma vitamin C concentrations was negatively correlated with plasma TRAP levels and erythrocyte SOD activity, however plasma vitamin C concentration was positively correlated with erythrocyte GSH-Px activity, The results would suggest that regular moderate exercise, nonsmoking, high HDL-cholesterol and high plasma vitamin E concentration enhance antioxidant defences against reactive oxygen species and may increase the likelihood of a healthier life span.