[Vitamin C in treatment of certain cardiovascular diseases]

The human organism is incapable of producing vitamin C by biosynthesis. We are therefore totally dependent on the presence of this vitamin in our diet. Vitamin C is capable of essentially influencing the course of many metabolic processes, and it is therefore used in the treatment and prophylaxis of many diseases, including those that are a consequence of the activity of the so-called reactive forms of oxygen. The presence of vitamin C in the anti-oxidant protective system is believed to be very important, since it can react with the free radicals of oxygen and other oxidants, and "sweep" them away. Therefore, attention is more and more frequently focused on the possibility of using vitamin C in the treatment of those circulatory diseases that are believed to be associated with the action of free radicals. Routine administration of vitamin C should be therefore recommended in the treatment of patients with coronary arterial disease, treatment of patients after cardiac infarction or cerebral stroke, or in the treatment of arterial hypertension.