Obese people need more vitamin C.
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.There are many health problems associated with being very overweight. Higher amounts of vitamin C could protect against this.
Poor diet can upset the intestinal microbiome. "If the food is too high in fat, it damages the intestines," says Maret Traber of Oregon State University. A catastrophic chain reaction begins, the researcher and her team discovered.
The intestine becomes permeable
First, the intestinal wall becomes more permeable. As a result, so-called lipopolysaccharides get into the bloodstream to a greater extent. These are particles from the cell membrane of certain intestinal bacteria. Certain white blood cells called neutrophils mistake invaders from the intestines for pathogenic bacteria. They attack them with sodium hypochlorite. But this substance also destroys the vitamin C in the blood.
Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant. It fishes free radicals from the bloodstream. These are aggressive molecules that can damage cells and thus fuel aging and disease processes. Vitamin C also protects vitamin E, which also has a strong antioxidant effect. "In the event of a lipopolysaccharide flooding, the body drastically loses both antioxidants and thus loses their protective function," says Traber.
This hits overweight people particularly hard. Because there are a lot of free radicals circulating in your body. Adipose tissue, especially if it settles in the abdominal cavity, is not passive: it fuels chronic inflammatory processes throughout the body, in which free radicals are also involved.
Metabolic syndrome
The inflammation is partly responsible for the fact that overweight people develop a so-called metabolic syndrome. Then, in addition to obesity, there are high blood sugar levels, high blood pressure and excessive blood lipid levels.
The risky combination affects the quality of life and can shorten the life span. That is why it is also called the “deadly quartet”. For example, people who are very overweight are more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases and develop type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease. Dementia diseases are also more common.
The vitamin C deficiency in the blood of overweight people is aggravated by the fact that the uptake of vitamin C from the intestine into the blood is reduced due to the impaired intestinal function. Previous studies also show that overweight people anyway consume fewer vitamin C suppliers such as fruit and vegetables compared to slimmer people.
Increase vitamin C intake
The researchers therefore recommend significantly increasing the daily intake of vitamin C if you are very overweight. This could potentially prevent damage to health caused by inflammation. For metabolically healthy adults, the recommended values are between 90 and 110 mg per day. For obese people, this value should possibly be revised upwards significantly. The best sources of vitamin C are fruits and vegetables.
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