Ascorbic Acid Economy in Surgical Patients as Indicated by Blood Ascorbic Acid Levels

TODAY, ascorbic acid is well recognized as having an important role in the preoperative and postoperative nutrition of surgical patients. Nevertheless, information on the requirements and total physiologic action of this vitamin is scanty. The result frequently has been either shotgun therapy or none at all.This study has centered around the requirements of ascorbic acid, the effects of deficiency and the significance of blood acid levels in adult surgical patients exclusive of those suffering burns or severe trauma. The classic work of Bartlett, Jones and Ryan,1 in 1942, suggested that in the adult, plasma ascorbic acid levels below 0.2 . . .