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Ascorbic acid and Hyaluronic acid degradation


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#1 Alec

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Posted 09 November 2010 - 01:05 AM


I've been taking a multivitamin for about three months now for general health maintenance and skin support. I found one that has many of the ingredients I was looking for that may help keep skin healthy like Vitamins A, C, E, Grape Seed Extract and DMAE. I've recently been reading that ascorbic acid may play a role in degrading/reducing hyaluronic acid levels. I know that collagen and elastin are important in the extracellular matrix but it seems that hyaluronic acid is also important in the ECM. So when I read that Vitamin C degrades HA I started to get a bit worried that the Vitamin C I thought was so good for your skin might actually instead do harm to your skin making you look older. I'm very interested to hear what others here think about this possibility. Because if it's so, we have to start looking into this more. I'm getting 250 mg of Vitamin C in the multivitamin I'm taking now.

Here's one link to some research on this topic:

Depolymerization of hyaluronic acid by the ORD reaction

#2 pycnogenol

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Posted 09 November 2010 - 05:47 PM

You can ask the good folks over at The Vitamin C Foundation about this.

http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/

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#3 Alec

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Posted 09 November 2010 - 07:53 PM

Thanks for the link pycnogenol. They do have quite a bit of information about Vitamin C. But I think that they might be a little biased against anything that suggests any potential negative effects of ascorbic acid. I realize that Vitamin C has plenty of benefits, which is why I take it. But my concern is specifically about the potential negative influence high amounts might have on hyaluronic acid levels. If it does, I was thinking of increasing my intake of some natural hyaluronidase inhibitors since hyaluronidase degrades hyaluronic acid. Maybe grape seed extract or green tea extract but I'm not sure which is better. Or just start taking HA supplements. Collagen and elastin are important for healthy skin but so is HA.

Okay, I have more links to research on possible HA degradation by ascorbic acid. The first one goes back to 1966, so it looks like it's been known for a long time:

The degradation of hyaluronic acid by ascorbic acid

Hyaluronic acid degradation by ascorbic acid and influence of iron

Here's one that says that catalase can stop depolymerization of HA by ascorbic acid:

The inability of superoxide dismutase to inhibit the depolymerization of hyaluronic acid by ferrous ions and ascorbate

#4 numbered

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Posted 15 November 2010 - 11:50 AM

Thats all good and well but in vitro. Any in vivo studies? If that was the case i would expect topical vitamin c to be detrimental to skin but on the contrary topical vitamin C seems to work very well .

#5 Alec

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Posted 16 November 2010 - 01:13 AM

You're right, a human study would be better.

#6 Alec

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Posted 16 November 2010 - 07:53 PM

One thing to note. Iron activity seems to play a role here. By using iron chelators they were able to inhibit depolymerization in vitro. It's well documented that inhibition of iron activity by iron chelators is also produced in humans.

Edited by Alec, 16 November 2010 - 07:55 PM.


#7 Deckah

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Posted 20 November 2010 - 11:02 PM

Hmm. I once read that HA had an influence in growth of tumors. Could this be a factor for those that claim good results on cancer treatments from megadosing Vit C? I guess slowing a process isn't really curing. :unsure:

#8 Alec

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Posted 21 November 2010 - 05:34 AM

To a certain degree maybe it's a good thing as long as there is enough HA being synthesized as well and also in good condition in the ECM. There are a bunch of factors involved in degradation, synthesis and sustainment of HA. What I'm concerned about is that too much vitamin C might cause excessive degradation while there isn't enough HA being synthesized.

As I understand it, cancer is more associated with degraded low-molecular-weight HA and not high-molecular-weight HA that's found in a healthy ECM and healthy joints.

Edited by Alec, 21 November 2010 - 05:36 AM.





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