Figure 3.

Comparison of vitamin C levels determined in serum (a) or intracellular, either in buccal epithelial cells (b) or in peripheral blood leukocytes (c), of obese patients who underwent a DRI-covering low-calorie formula diet program (n = 14). The dotted lines indicate the reference limits for adequate serum levels, the continuous line separates the ’low level range’ from ’manifest deficiency range’ according to reference data from healthy populations. Data are presented as median +/− quartiles (boxes) and 1.5 interquartile ranges (whiskers). BMC samples below detection level were excluded from this analysis.