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Relation of Serum Ascorbic Acid to Helicobacter pylori Serology in US Adults: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

General Internal Medicine Section, Medical Service, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, (J.A.S.), New York, New York
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (J.A.S., E.S.H.), New York, New York
University of California, San Francisco, California, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York (G.I.P.-P.)

Address reprint requests to: Dr. Joel A. Simon, General Internal Medicine (111A1), San Francisco VA Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street, San Francisco, California, 94121. E-mail: jasimon{at}itsa.ucsf.edu

Purpose: To examine the relation between serum ascorbic acid and Helicobacter pylori serology from a probability sample of US adults.

Subjects and Methods: Data from 6,746 adults (ages 20 to 90 years) enrolled in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988–1994 were analyzed. Multiple logistic regression models were examined taking into account sample weights and the complex survey design of NHANES III, and controlling for the effects of potential confounders. Because race appeared to modify the association between serum ascorbic acid and seropositivity to H. pylori, we conducted the analyses stratified by race.

Results: A total of 2,189 adults (32%) had a positive serology for H. pylori, and, of these, 1,175 (54%) were positive for the CagA antigen. Among whites, a 0.50 mg/dL increase in serum ascorbic acid level was associated with decreased seroprevalence of H. pylori (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) CI 0.82–0.96, p < 0.01). In analyses that controlled for seroprevalence of H. pylori, a 0.50 mg/dL increase in serum ascorbic acid level among whites was independently associated with a decreased seroprevalence of the pathogenic cagA-positive strain of H. pylori (OR = 0.31, 95% CI 0.12–0.79, p < 0.05). Serum ascorbic acid levels were not significantly associated with H. pylori serology among non-whites (all p > 0.05).

Conclusions: Higher serum levels of ascorbic acid were associated with a decreased seroprevalence of H. pylori and of the pathogenic cagA-positive strain of H. pylori among whites. If these associations are related causally and are not the result of residual confounding by factors such as socioeconomic status, ascorbic acid may affect the risk of H. pylori infection and in turn, the risk for peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer among white Americans.

Key words: ascorbic acid, Helicobacter pylori, vitamin C

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