Oral Administration of 250 Mg Vitamin C Reduces the Blood Level of Lead in Female Street Sweepers of Denpasar City

The marked increase in number of motor vehicles contributes to air pollution. The lead content of vehicle emissions is prone to cause both lung and blood toxicity if continuously inhaled. Lead exerts its hematotoxicity effect by means of inhibiting the enzymes of heme biosynthesis, leading to the decrease of both erythrocyte and hemoglobin count in individuals who were exposed to it. Vitamin C inhibits lead uptake thus decreasing its cytotoxicity by means of decreasing the absorption rate of lead in small intestine. This study aimed to know whether vitamin C administration could decrease the blood level of lead, as well as increasing both erythrocytes and hemoglobin count of street sweepers. Pre test and post test control group design was used for this study with 30 street sweepers as the subjects. Subjects were randomly grouped into either control or treatment groups, where 15 control subjects were given placebos and 15 other subjects were given 250mg of vitamin C for 30 days as the treatment group. The blood level of lead before and after administration of vitamin C was tested by Independent t test, while the hemoglobin and erythrocyte count were tested by Mann-Whitney Test. The mean level of lead content in control and treatment group was 1.413 ± 0.348 and 1.033 ± 0.324, respectively (p= 0.034). The mean erythrocyte count in control and treatment group was 4.511 ± 0.349 and 4.744 ± 0.363, respectively (p= 0.765), while the mean hemoglobin level in control and treatment group was 13.355 ± 0.605 and 13.352 ± 0,340, respectively (p= 0.665). The results showed that there was significant decrease of blood lead level after administration of vitamin C (p<0.05), while no significant increase of either erythrocyte count nor hemoglobin level was found (p>0.05). It is concluded that administration of 250 mg vitamin C per day reduced the blood lead level. The result of this study is expected to be used for preventing lead toxicity in street sweepers.