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Vitamin C & Cartilage

May 19, 2011 | By Matthew Lee
Vitamin C & Cartilage
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Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, plays a vital role in the human body. Popularly known as an immune-boosting agent, vitamin C is also an important component in your body's fundamental structure. Essential to the development and maintenance of healthy teeth, bones, skin, cartilage and other connective tissues, vitamin C's role in promoting overall health extends beyond its effects on the immune system.

Cartilage

Cartilage is found throughout the human body, primarily in your rib cage, windpipes and joints between bones. While most cartilage turns to bone over the course of human development, that which remains helps to protect your joints from damage and provides shape to some external parts of your body, such as your nose and ears. Primarily made of protein, collagen, sugars and a type of cell called chondrocytes, cartilage is more flexible than bone but stiffer than muscle and other body tissues. As cartilage is not served by blood vessels, its maintenance and repair rely on your body's production of these formative components.

Vitamin C and Collagen

Vitamin C is essential to your body's production of collagen. Due to its water solubility, vitamin C cannot be stored by your body. While other sources of collagen exist, your vitamin C intake from foods and supplements is essential to your body's production of collagen. In addition to this intake from edible sources, vitamin C may help promote repair and development if injected directly into cartilage. As demonstrated in a 2010 study by a team headed by Seiji Omata of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, vitamin C can be directly applied to aid the development of cartilage tissue. Due to its high acid content, however, these researchers found that excessive vitamin C may result in damage to cartilage.

Vitamin C and Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a condition that causes the breakdown of cartilage in your joints. The most common form of arthritis, this condition results in reduced motion, pain and swelling, typically in your knees, hands, spine and hips. Due to its role in forming collagen, vitamin C may help prevent and ease the symptoms of this condition. However, as noted in a 2010 study by Jennifer Peregoy and Frances Vaughn Wilder of the University of South Florida, research on this effect is mixed. Though these researchers did find that vitamin C may prevent osteoarthritis, they did not discover any evidence for vitamin C helping to delay the progression of this condition.

Antioxidants and Cartilage

In addition to its role in the formation of collagen, vitamin C serves as an antioxidant, helping to eliminate the free radicals from your body that may damage healthy cells. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, these antioxidant properties may help prevent free radicals from causing damage to your cartilage. Possibly owing to vitamin C's potential to do damage to cartilage due to its acidic properties, Cathy Rosenbaum and colleagues at the Bethesda North Hospital Pharmacy in Cincinnati, Ohio, did not find evidence for such an effect. Due to a combination of positive, negative and neutral findings in the literature, their 2010 review of multiple studies did not find vitamin C's antioxidant properties to be effective in preventing or delaying the breakdown of cartilage.

References

Article reviewed by Jay Lawrence Last updated on: May 19, 2011

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