Vitamin C Physiology: The Known and the Unknown in Obesity

Vitamin C is effective in strengthening the immune system, capillary blood vessels and protecting the dental health, as well as in the convenient use of iron, calcium, thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, vitamin A and E in the body. Vitamin C also acts as a cofactor for 15 different enzymes, and shows antioxidant activity as a electron donor reducing agent. It acts as a powerful free radical scavenger by protecting tissues against oxidative stress and reduces inflammation. Obesity is defined as "mild inflammatory disease" due to the increase in inflammatory markers such as C reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) and IL-6. Since antioxidant enzyme activity and serum antioxidant levels decrease in obese individuals, the effect of antioxidant vitamins on weight loss is further investigated. In studies investigating the effectiveness of vitamin C in the treatment of obesity; vitamin C was found to reduce systemic inflammation by inhibiting CRP and TNF alpha pathways, shown to inhibit the hypoxia in adipose tissue with potential for protection against free radicals and decreasing lipid peroxidation. On the other hand, it was shown that vitamin C inhibits mature adipocyte formation and cell growth, inhibits lipolysis, and can be considered as a treatment model for obesity to offer solutions for abnormal fat accumulation. In this review, the action mechanism of vitamin C and its role in dietary treatment were investigated in order to prevent obesity complications and to provide weight loss.