Antioxidant Deficiencies Create Damage to Central Nervous System

Keeping nasty free radicals from attacking your cells involves a complex set of antioxidant mechanisms, of which vitamins C & E and selenium play critical roles.

Vitamin C, vitamin E and selenium, in particular, cover for each other by performing some similar antioxidant functions. Thus, if one of these nutrients is in short supply, the others can compensate on the front line to combat oxidative damage.

This tag-teaming is a great strategy, barring no long-term or multiple antioxidant deficiencies – either of which can cause serious debilitation, even death.

Study Shows Combined Deficiency of Vitamins E and C Causes Severe Damage in Guinea Pigs

In The Journal of Nutrition (June 2006), Vanderbilt University research examined double-antioxidant-deficiencies in guinea pigs.

Interestingly, guinea pigs, like humans, cannot generate ascorbic acid (vitamin C) internally, in contrast with rats and mice, which are usually used in studies.

Researchers found that any combined antioxidant deficiency -- be it vitamin C and vitamin E, vitamin C and selenium, or vitamin E and selenium – led to severe physical malfunction, particularly in the central nervous system.

Selenium-related deficiencies produced severe skeletal muscle damage, but were not fatal.

Much worse, however, was the combined vitamin C and E deficiency, which rendered severe brain lesions, sudden limb paralysis, and eventual death. Serious stuff, fair members.

Autopsies of the C and E deficient guinea pigs revealed shrunken neurons, cell inflammation, and evidence of severe paralysis. Researchers speculate the central nervous system damage resulted from oxidative damage to blood vessels supplying the brain and spinal cord.

They suspect the dramatic difference from selenium-related deficiencies has to do with a specific C-E antioxidant mechanism which acts specifically to protect central nervous system blood vessel membranes from injury.

The study proved that while single antioxidant deficiencies can be damaging, even fatal over long terms, combined deficiencies can render exponentially worse damage.

To learn more about the antioxidant properties of Vitamins C & E, visit:

Vitamin C

Vitamin E

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