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Relationship of Ascorbic Acid to Blood Lead Levels
By Joel A. Simon, MD, MPH and Esther
S. Hudes, PhD, MPH
The following is an extract of the
abstract from the Journal of the American Medical Association - Abstract, June 23/30
JAMA. 1999;281:2289-2293] (c) AMA 1999.
Context Some animal studies
suggest that orally administered ascorbic acid may chelate lead and decrease the risk of
the toxic effects of lead.
Objective To examine the
relationship between serum ascorbic acid levels and prevalence of elevated blood lead
levels.
Design, Setting, and Participants
Cross-sectional analysis of a probability sample of the US population enrolled in the
Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994 (4213 youths aged 6-16
years and 15 365 adults aged >17 years) without a history of lead poisoning.
Main Outcome Measures
Elevated and log blood lead levels by serum ascorbic acid level.
Results After controlling for
the effects of age, race, sex, income level, and dietary energy, fat, calcium, iron, and
zinc intake, youths in the highest serum ascorbic acid tertile had an 89% decreased
prevalence of elevated blood lead levels compared with youths in the lowest serum ascorbic
acid tertile (odds ratio, 0.11; 95% confidence interval, 0.04-0.35; P for trend=.002).
Conclusions Our data suggest
that high serum levels of ascorbic acid are independently associated with a decreased
prevalence of elevated blood lead levels. If these associations are related causally,
ascorbic acid intake may have public health implications for control of lead toxicity.
Corresponding Author and
Reprints: Joel A. Simon, MD, MPH, General Internal Medicine (111A1), San Francisco VA
Medical Center, 4150 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121 E-mail: jasimon@itsa.ucsf.edu.
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