Dietary vitamin C improves the survival of mice.

Feeding C57BL/6J male mice 1% ascorbic acid (1,430 mg/kg body weight) in their drinking water for life increased the average life span by 8.6% (p less than 0.05) and perhaps by as much as 20.4%. The ascorbic acid group weighed 6-7% less than the control group up until 800 days of age. The maximum life span for the control group was 965 days and 993 days for the ascorbic acid group, representing an increase of only 2.9% in the maximum life span. The copper content of heart, liver, kidney, and brain was unchanged after feeding 1% ascorbic acid for 48 days. The copper content of heart declined by 20.4% after feeding 2% ascorbic acid. Liver, kidney, and brain were unchanged.