All issues > Volume 40(3); 1997

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1997;40(3):352-360. Published online March 15, 1997.

Whole blood and Plasma Vitamin C Concentrations of Elementary School Children in Chinju

Yoon-Ok YO Kim¹, Myoung-Bum MB Choi¹, Youn-Kyeong YK Cho¹, Sun-Kyeong SK Sin¹, Song-Ja SJ Kim¹, Hyang-Ok HO Woo¹, Seoung-Hwan SH Kim¹, Hee-Shang HS Youn¹, Seon-Ju SJ Kim², Kook-Young KY Maeng², Gyung-Hyuck GH Ko³, Seung-Chul SC Baik⁴, Woo-Kon WK Lee⁴, Myung-Je MJ Cho⁴, Kwang-Ho KH Lee⁴

¹Department of Pediatrics, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Chinju, Korea
²Department of Clinical Pathology, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Chinju, Korea
³Department of Pathology, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Chinju, Korea
⁴Department of Microbiolog, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Chinju, Korea

Abstract

Purpose
: Recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C was determined on the basis of preventing the scurvy without considerations of the important function of the vitamin C as a first line antioxidant. So we measured the whole blood and plasma vitamin C concentrations of the contemporay healthy elementary school children in Chinju for the establishment of the optimal daily vitamin C requirment in the elementary school children.
Methods
: Whole blood and plasma vitamin C concentrations were measured by the 2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazine method in 338 children from the 1st to the 6th grade of one elementary school in Chinju.
Results
: Whole blood and plasma vitamin C concentrations were 1.36¡¾0.34mg/dL and 1.07¡¾0.33mg/dL respectively. There existed an close relationship between whole blood and plasma vitamin C concentrations(r=0.77, p=0.0001). Whole blood vitamin C concentration decreased as the age became older(r=-0.22 p=0.0001), but plasma vitamin C concentration didnotchange. There were no sex differences in the whole blood and plasma vitamin C concentrations except in the 3rd grade(p<0.05). Twenty-three of 338 elementary school children(6.8%) had the plasma vitamin C concentration less than 0.6mg/dL.
Conclusion
: We produced the blood and plasma vitamin C concentrations of the contemporay elementary school children in Chinju. These values were not satisfactory in consideration of the importance of the childhood health.

Keywords :Whole blood, plasma, vitamin C, elementary school children