Interactions of vitamin C with lead and mercury.

Ascorbic acid has been found to interact with several elements in such a manner as to render them less available for animals. This property of the vitamin has a negative effect on the animals fed a copper-deficient diet, but a positive effect on those fed toxic levels of copper, selenium, vanadium, and cobalt. The effect of ascorbic acid in alleviating cadmium toxicity has been attributed to the effect of the vitamin on iron metabolism, since ferrous iron will also alleviate cadmium toxicity in the Japanese quail. The results of studies reported here indicate that iron will alleviate lead toxicity but ascorbic acid is ineffective. Ascorbic acid will alleviate mercury toxicity, but iron exacerbates this condition. For these two elements, the effects of iron and ascorbic acid are independent of each other.