There is substantial evidence for a role of dietary antioxidants in th
e prevention of cardiovascular disease, but evidence for a protective
effect of vitamin C is inconclusive. Two recent reports add to the sup
porting evidence and provide some new observations. The first study a
5-year prospective population study of Finnish men, suggests that vita
min C-deficient men may be at increased risk of myocardial infarction.
The second study suggests that vitamin C may play a role in preventin
g manifestations of existing coronary artery disease, rather than in l
imiting disease progression. Although these results suffer from the li
mitations of observational studies, they provide impetus for further i
nvestigation.