The Relation of the Plasma Ascorbic Acid to Bone Mineral Density in Women Referring to Jami Clinic 2006 Tehran, Iran

     Osteoporosis is a silent epidemy of today's world, and is also a prevalent problem of health in Iran. The role of nutrients such as ascorbic acid, a key antioxidant vitamin, in this disease has recently attracted researchers' attention. In this study, we studied the relation between plasma ascorbic acid concentration and bone mineral density (BMD) in women referring to Jami clinic, Tehran, Iran. The study was performed in 200 participants who underwent a fasting blood withdrawal. The control group (n=76; 39.6%) were normal in both lumbar spine (L1-L4) and femoral neck (T-score -1). Femur T-score was considered as criterion in selection of the patient group. Seventy six subjects (39.6%) with T-score>-1 were known as total patient group (TP). TP were divided into mild patients (M; -1>T-score -1.7), and severe patients (S; -1.7>T-score). Plasma ascorbic acid levels were analyzed by ferric reducing ascorbic acid concentration, a spectrophotometric assay. Mean SD plasma level of ascorbic acid was 74.55±67.60 mM in control group, 54.73±46.65 M in TP (T- scoreT-score > -1.7), resectively. Our results support an association between plasma levels of ascorbic acid and BMD. The results showed that: 1) plasma levels of ascorbic acid were lower in patients with osteoporosis than in control; 2) the difference was higher between control and group S (T-score -1.7) who had more acute disease than group M (-1.7<T-score <-1) who had milder disease; and finally 3) femoral neck T-score showed a positive and significant correlation with plasma levels of ascorbic acid in all participants.