Swiss researchers announced new findings about vitamin C at the recent Congress of the European Society of Cardiology. In a study of the effect of vitamin C on heart vessels, they found that long-term supplementation of vitamin C restored important functions to the lining of blood vessels that play a role in protecting against the buildup of plaque.

Scientists are learning more about the role of the vessels' lining, called the endothelium, in producing nitric oxide and how that substance protects against the development of heart disease. In the Swiss study, the functioning of the heart vessels' endothelium was assessed in patients who were smokers, had high blood pressure, or had high cholesterol.

After two years, during which all subjects took 2g of vitamin C daily, the initial dysfunction of the endothelium seen in the smokers and people with high blood pressure had been reversed. That was not the case among those with high cholesterol.

These findings offer support to the notion of using vitamin C as a possible preventive measure against the development of coronary heart disease.

Related information: Basic facts - Disease risks | Treatment - Vitamins/minerals