Researchers say a higher intake of Vitamin C is necessary for metabolic syndrome patients trying to stop a potentially deadly cycle of health-related problems and antioxidant disruption. 35% of the adult population in the United States is believed to suffer from metabolic syndrome.
Saturated fat, which is high in many people’s diets here in the U.S., causes chronic low-grade inflammation in the body. This chronic inflammation is believed to lead to the development of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is associated with dementia, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cognitive dysfunction and fatty liver disease. A person with at least 3 of these conditions is considered to have metabolic syndrome: high triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol), high blood sugar, high blood pressure and abdominal obesity.
It is believed that an imbalance in gut microbiomes caused by eating high amounts of saturated fats contributes to toxins in the bloodstream which in turn causes Vitamin C depletion and subsequently impairs Vitamin E benefits. Antioxidants like Vitamin C and Vitamin E protects against oxidative stress caused by inflammation and free radicals, unstable molecules that harm the body’s cells. Vitamin C is known to protect Vitamin E, so when you have lipid peroxidation (the process by which free radicals try to find a way to stabilize themselves by stealing electrons from cell membranes which causes damage to cells) Vitamin E gets used up and Vitamin C regenerates the Vitamin E. Without Vitamin C, Vitamin E is lost and your body ends up in a vicious cycle of depleting the body’s natural antioxidants protections.
Injury to the gut occurs when there is too much fat in the diet. Bacterial cell walls might begin to leak from the gut and begin circulating in the body causing neutrophils, the most abundant type of white blood cells, to chase them down. Neutrophils attack bacteria and that destroys Vitamin C. This process keeps repeating without intervention. People with metabolic syndrome can have the same amount of Vitamin C in their diet as individuals without metabolic syndrome but they will have lower plasma concentrations of Vitamin C. So increases in supplementation or dietary intake are a must.
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