Vitamin C deficiency cause heart disease

Vitamin C Deficiency
So, what does cause heart disease? Dr. Rath has
developed one of the most intriguing theories about
the origins of heart disease. During Rath’s last year
of medical school, his father died of a heart attack.
Needless to say, he developed a keen interest in
trying to find the cure for heart disease. I believe that
his research is impeccable and his conclusions are
valid. Furthermore, I believe he should be awarded
the Nobel Prize for his work. Dr. Rath believes that
heart disease is a scurvy-like condition resulting from
vitamin C deficiency.
Scurvy is the disease associated with severe
vitamin C deficiency that results in inadequate
production of collagen. Severe vitamin C deficiency
results in depression, bleeding, infection, and death.
The RDA for vitamin C (75 mg/day for females and
90 mg/day for males) was set up to prevent scurvy.
My clinical experience has shown that the RDA may
be adequate to prevent scurvy, but it is woefully
2 April 2009
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.
Dr. Rath’s initial research started with looking
at why “bad” cholesterol sticks to the artery walls.
He found that the protein lipoprotein(a) is the
“glue” that deposits cholesterol in the arteries. Dr.
Rath found, however, that the deposits were not
dependent on the amount of cholesterol but rather
on the amount of lipoprotein(a). Dr. Rath found that
lipoprotein(a) was a risk factor for heart disease at a
level 10 times greater than cholesterol alone.
His most amazing part of this discovery came a
few years afterward. He found that lipoprotein(a)
was found only in humans and a few other species
that do not have the ability to manufacture their
own vitamin C. In fact, he found that there is an
inverse relationship between lipoprotein(a) and
vitamin C: the higher the lipoprotein(a) level, the
lower the levels of vitamin C.
I have been checking lipoprotein(a) levels in my
patients for nearly 15 years. It is a test that should
be done at a physical exam and repeated annually. If
lipoprotein(a) levels are high, then supplementation
with vitamin C is a must. Dr. Rath found that
vitamin C supplementation lowers elevated
lipoprotein(a) levels.
About the time Dr. Rath was reporting his
discovery about lipoprotein(a) and vitamin C, Linus
Pauling became very interested. Linus Pauling, a twotime
Nobel laureate, was very interested in vitamin C
and had been promoting its use for years. Rath went
to work at the Linus Pauling Institute and produced
his most stunning research, showing the connection
between low vitamin C levels and the development
of heart disease.
Only a few animals share the genetic defect we
humans have, the inability to produce our own
vitamin C. Guinea pigs, for instance, cannot produce
vitamin C. Dr. Rath’s hypothesis was that a vitamin
C-deficient diet would produce atherosclerosis in
guinea pigs identical to heart disease in humans.
The guinea pigs who received a comparable RDA
dose of vitamin C had the same lipid deposits in
their arteries that humans with heart disease have.
The guinea pigs treated with larger doses of vitamin
C (40 mg/kg or 2,800 mg for a 140-pound person)
were found to have no signs of atherosclerosis.
Furthermore, animals that had atherosclerosis also
had elevated lipoprotein(a) in their arteries.
Dr. Rath’s conclusion stated: “Low vitamin C
levels in the animals resulted in the breakdown of the
artery wall.”2 Remember, the only difference in the
guinea pigs that developed atherosclerosis compared
with those that did not was a vitamin C-deficient
diet. These animals were not fed a high cholesterol
diet. If Dr. Rath’s conclusions are true (and I believe
them to be), they destroy the cholesterol = heart
disease hypothesis and provide a safe, inexpensive
way to prevent and treat heart disease.