Among patients with coronary atherosclerosis, low plasma levels of ascorbic acid correlate with recent myocardial infarction or unstable angina, whereas the extent of atherosclerosis does not. The researchers who report these findings infer that antioxidant therapy may be beneficial in patients with atherosclerosis because it limits the rupture of plaques, not because it reduces the extent of the plaques. The findings support the hypothesis that antioxidant status may be relevant to plaque activation and the clinical expression of coronary artery disease rather than affecting the overall extent of fixed disease.
J Am Coll Cardiol 1998;31:980-986.
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