Vitamin C levels associated with stone formation in women

Hello fellow flushers,

There is evidence to suggest that vitamin C intake affects the conversion of cholesterol into bile acids for women.

Two studies were conducted by the same researchers based on the same original information. Both studies were analyzed from information obtained during the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Each study looked at the original data from slightly different views:

Reported in the 1998 study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9702150?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.P...


"An inverted U-shaped relation was found between serum ascorbic acid level and clinical gallbladder disease among women but not among men."

And, in the 2000 study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10761957?dopt=Abstract


"Among women, each SD (27 micromol/L) increase in serum ascorbic acid level was independently associated with a 13% lower prevalence of clinical gallbladder disease (P = .006) and asymptomatic Gallstones (P = .048)."

The identical conclusions in the abstracts to both studies:

"Ascorbic acid, which affects the catabolism of cholesterol to bile acids and, in turn, the development of gallbladder disease in experimental animals, may affect the risk of gallbladder disease among women."

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a simple ratio of vitamin C to body weight, something that might be more useful here. Perhaps a chemistry major might be able to shed more light?

I am trying to find out why, after 42 flushes, I'm still producing stones. The original stones seemed to have been flushed out by around flush 22 - 24, but new stones have been forming continuously since then (roughly 100 tiny new stones per month). I'm sure that there's more to it than simply the level of vitamin C in my body at any one time - there are bound to be other factors involved - but shedding even some light on one factor might help to simplify our understanding of the biochemical process and thus suggest practical ways to reduce the formation of stones over time.

It is curious that this result was found for women but not for men. Perhaps one of the stone-forming factors might include cyclical sex hormone changes? This could also be related to the higher incidence of stones from the mid-40s and later in life, with the onset of perimenopause and menopause in women.

Furthermore, vitamin C is itself a debatable thing. There are at least 2 forms of it that I know of (C1 and C2) and about 4 - 6 co-factors (I've forgotten at the moment, but this information is readily available).

At any rate, more informative comments would be highly appreciated!

pc



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