Citrus Slimmers

Is there a connection
between the alarming rise in obesity
in the United States and the prevalence of
vitamin C deficiency in American adults?

Perhaps, say researchers at Arizona State University. Obesity has doubled over the past two decades, and the number of American adults whose bodies don't contain enough vitamin C has tripled.

"Vitamin C is needed to manufacture carnitine, which is required for preparing fat to be used as fuel," says Carol S. Johnston, PhD, RD, chair of the department of nutrition at Arizona State University.

"If carnitine levels fall because there's not enough vitamin C in tissues, fat cannot be used efficiently for fuel, and this eventually leads to increased adiposity." (That's obesity to you and me.)