Effect of dietary ascorbic acid on levels of serum mineral nutrients in guinea pigs.

The effect of dietary ascorbic acid on the serum mineral nutrients, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na and Zn in guinea pigs has been studied. Large amounts of ascorbic acid were administered to experimental animals in their drinking water. The daily ascorbic acid intake from the diet for the control animals was 10 mg/kg body weight. The mean ascorbic acid intakes for the two groups of experimental animals were 366 (37 times control) and 722 (72 times control) mg/kg body weight/day. In the ascorbic acid-treated animals, there was a significant increase in serum ascorbic acid levels in comparison with the controls. No substantial differences were observed in the body weights. The large quantities of dietary ascorbic acid did not influence serum levels of all eight minerals studied when the experimental and control values were compared using the two-tailed Student's t-test. However, serum level of copper in the guinea pigs ingesting a daily dose of 722 mg of ascorbic acid per kg body weight was slightly below control value when one-tailed Student's t-test was used.