Oral vitamin C appears to cut the risk of early recurrence of abnormal health rhythm, as know as atrial fibrillation, after patients undergo electrical cardioversion, according to a new study. Vitamin C also appears to reduce the low-level inflammation that accompanies this condition.
Early atrial fibrillation recurrence after cardioversion may be due to electrophysiological changes in the chambers of the heart, known as atrial remodeling, Dr. Panagiotis Korantzopoulos of ‘G. Hatzikosta’ General Hospital in Ioannina, Greece, and colleagues report in the International Journal of Cardiology.
Animal studies have shown vitamin C can help prevent such remodeling, they note, and the vitamin has been shown to reduce atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery.