Vitamins & Minerals

This study aimed to investigate the effects of orange juice on oxidative stress, neutrophil functions and cardiovascular disease risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes. Fifteen patients with type 2 diabetes with haemoglobin A1c = 8.5% ingested 500 ml of orange juice every day for 4 weeks. Only plasma vitamin C was significantly increased (0.783 ± 0.09 vs 0.844 ± 0.09 mg/dL, p <0.05) and superoxide dismutase was tended to increase (46.8 ± 1.44 vs 48 ± 1.45 U/mL, p =0.06) after the orange juice intake. The slope of correlation between phagocytic activities and percentages of oxidative burst in patients who had taken orange juice was higher than before the ingestion. The findings suggest that the ingestion of orange juice increased vitamin C although it did not change the level of oxidant, neutrophil function and cardiovascular disease risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes. This is a pilot study which needs to be further investigated.