Vitamin C to the rescue

Vitamin C can kill multi-drug-resistant TB in the lab, scientists have found. The surprise discovery may point to a new way of tackling the increasingly hard-to-treat infection, the US study authors from Yeshiva University say in Nature Communications.

An estimated 650,000 people worldwide have multi-drug-resistant TB. Studies are now needed to see if a treatment that works using the same action as vitamin C would be useful as a TB drug in humans.

In the laboratory studies, vitamin C appeared to be acting as a reducing agent – something that triggers the production of reactive oxygen species called free radicals. These free radicals killed off the TB, even drug-resistant forms that are untreatable with conventional antibiotics such as isoniazid.

Lead investigator Dr William Jacobs, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, said: “We have only been able to demonstrate this in a test tube and we don’t yet know if it will work in humans.

“This would be a great study to consider because we have strains of tuberculosis that we don’t have drugs for, and I know that in the laboratory we can kill those strains with vitamin C. It also helps that we know vitamin C is inexpensive, widely available and very safe to use. At the very least, this work shows us a new mechanism that we can exploit to attack TB.”

It might be that vitamin C could be used alongside TB drugs. Alternatively, scientists could create new TB drugs that work by generating a big burst of free radicals. Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, has many important functions in the body, including protecting cells and keeping them healthy.

Good natural sources of the vitamin include oranges, blackcurrants and broccoli and most people get all they need from their diet.

*Mild iodine deficiency during pregnancy could be dimming the intellect of some children, say researchers.

Academics advise women of child-bearing age to maintain iodine in their diets by eating dairy products and fish. But women were warned not to take seaweed pills, as they contain too much iodine.

Iodine is essential for the development of the brain as it is needed to build some of the body’s hormones. A severe deficiency is the leading cause of preventable brain damage in the world.

The impact of low-level deficiency was, however, previously unknown. Researchers at UK universities in Surrey and Bristol looked at iodine levels in urine samples taken from pregnant women in south-west England. The study showed that iodine deficiency was common – affecting two-thirds of women. Their children went on to have slightly lower IQs at the age of eight and worse reading ability aged nine.

Dr Sarah Bath said: “We saw a three-point IQ difference between children who were born to mothers with low iodine in early pregnancy and children who were born to mothers above the cut-off.”

Researchers believe this may prevent a child reaching its full potential. Their advice, published on the British Dietetic Association website, recommends that pregnant and breastfeeding women need 250 micrograms per day and other adults need 150mcg.

*Doctors should regularly screen babies and young children for delays in motor skill development – including trouble sitting, standing and speaking – at well-child visits, pediatricians said.

In a clinical report, an American Academy of Pediatrics panel, said diagnosing and treating those problems early on may ultimately improve kids’ outlook and help families gain additional support.