No evidence of carcinogenicity for L‐ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in rodents

Abstract

Carcinogenesis studies of L‐ascorbic acid were conducted by offering diets containing 0, 25,000 or 50,000 ppm L‐ascorbic acid to groups of 50 F344/N rats and 50 B6C3F₁ mice of each sex for 103 wk. Survival of dosed and control female rats and of dosed and control female mice were comparable. Survival of high‐dose male rats was slightly greater than that of the controls, whereas survival of high‐dose male mice was significantly greater than that of the controls. There were no observed differences in neoplasms between treated and control groups that were considered related to L‐ascorbic acid. In femal rats, several lesions usually seen in aged animals showed a dose‐related decline. Under the conditions of these studies, L‐ascorbic acid given at 2.5% or 5.0% in the diet for 103 wk was not toxic or carcinogenic for male and female F344/N rats or for male and female B6C3F₁ mice.