Abstract
Recommended Daily Allowances (US RDA) of the Food and Drug Administration for ascorbic acid are higher than Recommended Dietary Allowances (set by the Food and Nutrition Board) for adults. There is a 6-fold margin between the requirement to prevent scurvy and the US RDA. The high requirement reported for the rhesus monkey may be needed to compensate for oxidative catabolism of ascorbic acid in this species. The rate of production of ascorbic acid, in mammals that synthesize it has been listed as 3-19 g/70 kg per day. If this high rate of synthesis represents the requirement of such animals, mutations that caused a loss of ascorbic-acid-synthesizing ability would be eliminated by natural selection on diets that failed to supply these large quantities. The loss of ascorbic-acid-synthesizing ability by human beings could indicate a low requirement, which has enabled our species to spread to regions of the earth where dietary sources of ascorbic acid are poor.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Dickerson R. E. The structures of cytochrome c and the rates of molecular evolution. J Mol Evol. 1971;1(1):26–45. doi: 10.1007/BF01659392. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dykes M. H., Meier P. Ascorbic acid and the common cold. Evaluation of its efficacy and toxicity. JAMA. 1975 Mar 10;231(10):1073–1079. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jukes T. H. Are recommended daily allowances for vitamin C adequate? Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 May;71(5):1949–1951. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.5.1949. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kimura M. Evolutionary rate at the molecular level. Nature. 1968 Feb 17;217(5129):624–626. doi: 10.1038/217624a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kimura M., Ohta T. On some principles governing molecular evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 Jul;71(7):2848–2852. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.7.2848. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- King J. L., Jukes T. H. Non-Darwinian evolution. Science. 1969 May 16;164(3881):788–798. doi: 10.1126/science.164.3881.788. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pauling L. Are recommended daily allowances for vitamin C adequate? Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 Nov;71(11):4442–4446. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.11.4442. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pauling L. Evolution and the need for ascorbic acid. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1970 Dec;67(4):1643–1648. doi: 10.1073/pnas.67.4.1643. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Turner A. G., King C. H., Craddock J. G. Measuring and reducing noise. Hospitals. 1975 Aug 1;49(15):85-6, 88-90. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Yew M. L. "Recommended daily allowances" for vitamin C. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1973 Apr;70(4):969–972. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.4.969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]