{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,7]],"date-time":"2026-02-07T11:10:12Z","timestamp":1770462612725,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,24]],"date-time":"2022-05-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1653350400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"VCU Presidential Excellence Award"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Little information exists about the plasma target nutritional needs of the &gt;15 million premature infants &lt;37 weeks gestation. Investigating ascorbic acid\u2019s (AscA) role in infant health, our study details the relationship of infant characteristics and maternal health on infant plasma AscA level (pAscA) during postnatal development. Furthermore, we determined pAscA influence during the first week of life (EpAscA) with later infant morbidities. We hypothesize that pAscA is influenced by gestational organ immaturity, as well as maternal factors, with EpAscA associated with greater morbidity risk. We conducted a prospective longitudinal observational study of pAscA, demographics and hospital course detailed in infants \u226434 weeks. Sixty-three subjects were included, with &gt;200 urine and plasma data points analyzed. Maternal smoking, exposure to magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) and advancing gestational and postnatal age were associated with lower pAscA. Non-white infants and those \u226430 weeks that developed bronchopulmonary dysplasia or retinopathy of prematurity had lower pAscA. Prenatal smoking, MgSO4, birth gestational age and race negatively influence pAscA. These results show prenatal and postnatal developmental factors influencing initial pAscA and metabolism, potentially setting the stage for organ health and risk for disease. Assessment of dietary targets may need adjustment in this population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu14112189","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,25]],"date-time":"2022-05-25T00:14:14Z","timestamp":1653437654000},"page":"2189","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Ascorbic Acid and the Premature Infant"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6200-7916","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nayef","family":"Chahin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Neonatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children\u2019s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-02761, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Miheret S.","family":"Yitayew","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Neonatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children\u2019s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-02761, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alicia","family":"Richards","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-02761, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Brielle","family":"Forsthoffer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-02761, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jie","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Neonatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children\u2019s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-02761, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6367-0373","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Karen D.","family":"Hendricks-Mu\u00f1oz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Neonatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children\u2019s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-02761, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Carr, A.C., and Maggini, S. 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