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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2012 Jan 20:11:7.
doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-11-7.

Intravenous vitamin C administration reduces fatigue in office workers: a double-blind randomized controlled trial

Sang-Yeon Suh  1 , Woo Kyung Bae, Hong-Yup Ahn, Sung-Eun Choi, Gyou-Chul Jung, Chang Hwan Yeom
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Intravenous vitamin C administration reduces fatigue in office workers: a double-blind randomized controlled trial

Sang-Yeon Suh et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Background: Studies of the efficacy of vitamin C treatment for fatigue have yielded inconsistent results. One of the reasons for this inconsistency could be the difference in delivery routes. Therefore, we planned a clinical trial with intravenous vitamin C administration.

Methods: We evaluated the effect of intravenous vitamin C on fatigue in office workers. A group of 141 healthy volunteers, aged 20 to 49 years participated in this randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. The trial group received 10 grams of vitamin C with normal saline intravenously, while the placebo group received normal saline only. Since vitamin C is a well-known antioxidant, oxidative stress was measured. Fatigue score, oxidative stress, and plasma vitamin C levels were measured before intervention, and again two hours and one day after intervention. Adverse events were monitored.

Results: The fatigue scores measured at two hours after intervention and one day after intervention were significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.004); fatigue scores decreased in the vitamin C group after two hours and remained lower for one day. Trial also led to higher plasma vitamin C levels and lower oxidative stress compared to the placebo group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). When data analysis was refined by dividing each group into high-baseline and low-baseline subgroups, it was observed that fatigue was reduced in the lower baseline vitamin C level group after two hours and after one day (p = 0.004). The same did not hold for the higher baseline group (p = 0.206).

Conclusion: Thus, intravenous vitamin C reduced fatigue at two hours, and the effect persisted for one day. There were no significant differences in adverse events between two groups. High dose intravenous vitamin C proved to be safe and effective against fatigue in this study.

Trial registration: The clinical trial registration of this trial is http://ClinicalTrials.govNCT00633581.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Boxplots of fatigue scores in the two groups. The mean fatigue scores of the vitamin C group decreased while those of the placebo group did not.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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