Vitamin C shows eyes & brain health potential
One of the nutrition industry’s biggest sellers – vitamin C – may help nerve cells in the eye to function properly, says a new study that suggests the vitamin may also be important for brain function, too.
The “surprising discovery” by researchers Oregon Health & Science University indicates that vitamin C may be needed for correct functioning of retinal cells, which in turn may have implications for the central nervous system.
In order for retinal cells to function properly, “we found that cells need to be ‘bathed’ in relatively high doses of vitamin C, inside and out,” explained Henrique von Gersdorff, PhD, a senior scientist at OHSU’s Vollum Institute and a co-author of the study.
“Because the retina is part of the central nervous system, this suggests there’s likely an important role for vitamin C throughout our brains, to a degree we had not realized before.”
According to findings published in the Journal of Neuroscience, this new research used goldfish retinas, which the researchers claim have the same overall biological structure as human retinas.
