Serum ascorbic acid and HDL cholesterol in a healthy elderly Japanese population.

The relationships between HDL cholesterol and serum ascorbic acid were examined in 79 male and 96 female healthy elderly Japanese, aged 60 and over. A significant positive correlation between serum HDL cholesterol and ascorbic acid was observed both in males (r = .243, p less than 0.05) and in females (r = .376, p less than 0.01). The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that serum ascorbic acid is a predictor of serum HDL cholesterol accounting for about 5% and 11% of its total variation in male and female subjects, respectively. The effect of age, BMI, status of physical activity, alcohol ingestion and cigarettes consumption, serum triglycerides and total cholesterol were taken into account as potentially confounding variables.