Current Insights and Trends in Vitamin C Research

Dear Colleagues,

Vitamin C research continues apace. New discoveries abound around vitamin C’s pleiotropic mechanisms of action, as well as its complex pharmacokinetics resulting in varying requirements depending on health, lifestyle, different disease states, etc. Many diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, are characterized by accompanying inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which increase requirements for vitamin C. The more recent discovery of vitamin C’s role in epigenetic regulation opens much wider involvement of this micronutrient in genetic expression and general health than previously acknowledged. However, vitamin C analysis is complicated due to the labile nature of the compound, and accepted methods often require specialized techniques. As high-quality data are the underlying foundation of new knowledge in the field, simpler well-validated methodologies would help in increasing the quality of the vitamin C literature.

Ongoing research on vitamin C’s mechanisms of action and optimal intake will help to inform both clinical practice and health authorities on relevant intake recommendations. As increasing amounts of high-quality vitamin-C-related research are published, more healthcare professionals around the world are becoming aware of the important roles that vitamin C plays in both human health and disease, as well as the higher turnover that various diseases induce on the vitamin C pool and the much-increased daily intake needed to compensate for disease in order to maintain the body stores at optimal status. This is particularly apparent for severe respiratory infections and sepsis, as is observed with COVID-19, which generally require intravenous administration of the vitamin to provide sufficient amounts to meet the increased turnover of the vitamin.

Intravenous vitamin C has been administered to cancer patients for many decades, however, basic information documenting clinical efficacy, optimal dosing, dosing frequency and necessary duration of administration is still needed for the different cancer types. Finally, a vast body of epidemiological evidence has long suggested that disease prevention is facilitated by the optimal intake of micronutrients such as vitamin C, but well-designed intervention studies are lacking. Globally, vitamin C intake recommendations vary widely. Further research in this area will provide an evidence base to aid in the harmonization of intake recommendations worldwide.

We invite you to submit your high-quality vitamin-C-focused research for consideration for publication in our Special Issue.

Dr. Anitra Carr
Prof. Dr. Jens Lykkesfeldt
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antioxidants is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• vitamin C
• antioxidant activities
• analytical methodology
• enzyme cofactor activities
• infection
• immune function
• diabetes
• metabolic health
• cardiovascular health
• cancer prevention
• cancer treatment
• mood
• cognitive health
• health-related quality of life
• epidemiology