Lower dietary and circulating vitamin C in middle and older aged men and women are associated with lower estimated skeletal muscle mass

Lewis, Lucy, Hayhoe, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7335-2715, Mulligan, Angela, Luben, Robert, Khaw, K. T. and Welch, Ailsa (2020) Lower dietary and circulating vitamin C in middle and older aged men and women are associated with lower estimated skeletal muscle mass. Journal of Nutrition, 150 (10). 2789–2798. ISSN 0022-3166

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Abstract

Background: Age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass contributes to poor outcomes including sarcopenia, physical disability, frailty, type 2 diabetes, and mortality. Vitamin C has physiological relevance to skeletal muscle and may protect it during aging, but few studies have investigated its importance in older populations. Objectives: We aimed to investigate cross-sectional associations of dietary and plasma vitamin C with proxy measures of skeletal muscle mass in a large cohort of middle- and older-aged individuals. Methods: We analyzed data from >13,000 men and women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition–Norfolk cohort, aged 42–82 y. Fat-free mass (FFM), as a proxy for skeletal muscle mass, was estimated using bioelectrical impedance analysis and expressed as a percentage of total mass (FFM%) or standardized by BMI (FFM BMI). Dietary vitamin C intakes were calculated from 7-d food diary data, and plasma vitamin C was measured in peripheral blood. Multivariable regression models, including relevant lifestyle, dietary, and biological covariates, were used to determine associations between FFM measures and quintiles of dietary vitamin C or insufficient compared with sufficient plasma vitamin C (<50 μmol/L and ≥50 μmol/L). Results: Positive trends were found across quintiles of dietary vitamin C and FFM measures for both sexes, with interquintile differences in FFM% and FFM BMI of 1.0% and 2.3% for men and 1.9% and 2.9% for women, respectively (all P < 0.001). Similarly, FFM% and FFM BMI measures were higher in participants with sufficient than with insufficient plasma vitamin C: by 1.6% and 2.0% in men, and 3.4% and 3.9% in women, respectively (all P < 0.001). Associations were also evident in analyses stratified into <65-y and ≥65-y age groups. Conclusions: Our findings of positive associations, of both dietary and circulating vitamin C with measures of skeletal muscle mass in middle- and older-aged men and women, suggest that dietary vitamin C intake may be useful for reducing age-related muscle loss. J Nutr 2020;150:2789–2798.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: ascorbic acid,frailty,sarcopenia,skeletal muscle,vitamin c,medicine (miscellaneous),nutrition and dietetics,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2701
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 07 Sep 2020 23:55
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 02:43
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/76789
DOI: 10.1093/jn/nxaa221

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