Saturday July 2, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- Taking vitamin C supplements or eating vitamin C rich fruit/vegetables may help maintain muscle strength, particularly grip strength in older men and women, a study recently published in FASEB Journal suggests.

Grip strength, a specific type of hand strength, is defined as the force of the hand that is applied to pull on or suspend from objects, according to wikipedia.

The study led by scientists at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts shows that high intake of vitamin C was associated with significantly higher grip strength in both men and women.

For the study, the scientists collected and analyzed data from 2,184 men and women in the Framingham Offspring Cohort who had vitamin C intake estimated using a food frequency questionnaire and had grip strength measured using a dynamometer.  The participants were at a mean age of 58.4 years plus or minus 8.8 years.  The mean vitamin C intake from diet was 184.5±326.3 mg/d for men and 205.6±343.4 mg/d for women.

Two previous U.S. have already associated high intake of vitamin C with physical strength and performance, according to the study report.  Other studies also suggest that vitamin C supplementation can also help delay the onset of fatigue in physically active rats.   Low vitamin C has been linked to decreased physical performance.

Vitamin C is known to help skeletal muscle as an antioxidant that helps overcome oxidative stress implicated in age-related decline in muscle, and as an enzyme cofactor for collagen and carnitine biosynthesis.  Carnitine is known for its role in the energy production from long chain fatty acids in mitochondria.

The current study could not explain how vitamin C exactly helps boost grip strength.  More research is needed to understand how vitamin C helps muscle strength.

High doses of vitamin C can provide many health benefits.   Some studies show that vitamin C has some anticancer properties while others suggest that high doses of vitamin C can improve the quality of life of patients with terminal diseases like cancer.

Shivani Sahni, Paul F. Jacques, Alyssa B. Dufour, Douglas P. Kiel, Robert R. McLean1 and Marian T. Hannan,  Higher dietary vitamin C intake is associated with higher grip strength in adults: The Framingham Offspring Study, April 2016, The FASEB Journal vol. 30 no. 1 Supplement 678.1