Vitamin C Improves the Mood of Acutely Hospitalized Patients

ResearchBlogging.org

According to new research, supplementation with vitamin C could improve the emotional state of hospitalized patients [1]. The study, published in the journal Nutrition, demonstrates that increasing vitamin C levels in acutely hospitalized patients results in a rapid, statistically and clinically significant improvement in mood state.

Sixty percent of patients in hospitals have extremely low levels of vitamin C. Their plasma levels are less than half that of normal levels; one in five patients have levels so low that they have scurvy, a condition characterized by general weakness, anemia, gum disease and skin hemorrhages as a result of vitamin C deficiency. But rather than giving them sauerkraut, like eighteenth century sailors received to combat scurvy on long voyages, Dr. John Hoffer at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal gave them vitamin C supplements. He found that their moods improved significantly.