(HOME) Subject: Stonewalling GallStones with vitamin C


                   Stonewalling Gallstones with
                   Vitamin C

                   Gallstones plague an estimated 20 million
                   Americans. But, as reported in the August 1998
                   issue of American Journal of Public Health, dietary vitamin C may slash
                   that number.

                   Researchers analyzed vitamin C levels in 9,000 adults. Of this group,
                   731 women and 189 men reported they had either gallstones or
                   resulting gall-
                   bladder removal.

                   In comparison, people with serum vitamin C concentrations higher
                   than 2.7 mg/dL had only 40 percent the rate of gallstones or
                   gallbladder removal as those with serum concentrations of less than
                   1.4 mg/dL.

                   Researchers think vitamin C may be the key to an enzyme reaction
                   that converts cholesterol to bile. Low levels of vitamin C slow the
                   conversion, bile then becomes supersaturated with excess cholesterol,
                   and the cholesterol precipitates out to form gallstones.

                   In addition, oxidants are known to trigger gallstone formation.
                   Researchers theorize that vitamin C, a potent antioxidant, neutralizes
                   the oxidants and stalls gallstones.

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