Ascorbic acid status of children with developmental disabilities

Ascorbic acid status of thirty-nine white children with developmental disabilities, ages three to nineteen years, is reported. Mean daily ascorbic acid intakes were calculated from three-day food records. Biochemical assessment consisted of fasting serum levels and a 6-hr. load test. Nine children served as a control group for the load test only. Mean dietary intakes for the vitamin were 204 per cent of the allowance. The mean serum ascorbic acid value was 1.3 mg. per deciliter. Only two children had levels at the unacceptable deficient level. Following load tests, ten children were identified as low excretors (less than 17 per cent), nine were moderate excretors (17 to 23 per cent), and the rest were high excretors (above 23 per cent). All of the normal children were high excretors. Two of three children with low ascorbic acid intakes (below 66 per cent of the recommended allowance) were verified as deficient by their fasting serum levels and urinary recovery after a load.