Vitamin C : How to Prevent Heart Disease

Vitamin C- Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is integral to heart health. It is believed to help prevent the fonnation of oxysterols.19 By combining the amino acid lysine with vitamin C, it may be possible to dissolve clots in the bloodstream.2o

Studies also reveal that vitamin C is required for collagen synthe­sis and is therefore necessary to maintain the integrity of the walls of arteries.2I Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, Ph.D., believed that a defi­ciency of vitamin C may precipitate arteriosclerosis because it causes defects in the arterial walls due to reduced collagen synthesis.22 Drs. Pauling and Rath have shown in preliminary studies that vitamin C supplementation can reverse arteriosclerosis in humans.23

In a study conducted on guinea pigs, it was found that the equivalent of the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin C offered virtually no protection against arterial damage. When the amount of vitamin C was increased to a dose equivalent to 2,800 mg for a 154-pound human, the researchers were able to reverse the damage.24

"Vitamin C reverses oxidation and prevents free radical formation" states William Lee Cowden M.D., of Richardson, Texas. "In a diet that involves reducing fats, vitamin C is as integral part of helping the body to repair itself."  In patients with existing cardiovascular disease, Dr. Cowden recommends that vitamin C be taken to bowel tolerance (the maximum amount a parson can take before causing loose stools or diarrhea) He suggests a minimum of three to four doses daily, increasing the amount until bowel tolerance.

"For example," explains Dr. Cowden, "the first dose should be 1,000 mg, the second dose 2,000 mg, the third dose 3,000 mg, and the fourth dose 4,000 mg. Stay on bowel tolerance until cardiovascular disease is resolved, and then go on a 3,000-mg maintenance dose. For those who are well but want to prevent cardiovascular disease, 3,000 to 10,000 mg daily is sufficient."

Higher doses of vitamin C should be taken with adequate amounts of water, magnesium, and vitamin B6, adds Dr. Cowden.

A study conducted by James E. Enstrom, M.D., an epidemiologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, suggests that men who consume vitamin C every day, at levels 500% to 666% of the U.S. RDA, live about six years longer than men who don't." 

High doses of vitamin C can dramatically reduce your risk of heart attack or death from other degenerative diseases, according to research results from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts.  Scientists tracked the health outcomes of 72 5 volunteers, 60-101 years old (average age of 73), over a 12-year span. Those individuals who consumed more than 700 mg daily of vitamin C had a 62% reduced risk of dying from heart disease and a 50% reduced mortality rate overall, suggesting that adequate vitamin C intake actually increases lifespan. Concurrent blood analyses of the subjects confirmed that those with high levels of vitamin C in their plasma enjoyed these benefits. The scientists also demonstrated that the highest degree of pro­tection was provided by combining vitamin C intake at this level and dietary foods, such as vegetables, high in natural vitamin C."

High doses of vitamin C can dramatically reduce your risk of heart attack or death from other degenerative diseases, according to research results from Tufts University. Those individuals who consumed more than 700 mg daily of vitamin C had a 62% reduced risk of dying from heart disease and a 50% reduced mortality rate overall.  

Every 33 seconds someone dies of a heart attack in the U.S. alone.

Heart attacks are the number one killer, followed by cancer, stroke, and diabetes. Two thirds of all deaths are due to heart disease and related conditions. 70% of all fatal heart attacks are sudden and without warning.

Wow, those are some scary statistics.  Yet almost everyone ignores them until they have a heart attack.  As far back as 1996, I was horrified by what I was watching on national T.V., a major league umpire was dying of a heart attack.  I watched the news play over and over the clip of John McSherry staggering around home plate and collapsing, later to be pronounced dead of a heart attack.  

Since that time, there have been thousands just like it.  Some said that McSherry was overweight, over 328 pounds, but in 2007 Glenn Myernick, an assistant coach for the U.S. soccer team and a former head coach of Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids, died after suffering a heart attack at the age on 51. 

Here was a man in good shape that was not overweight.  And, almost everyone was shocked to her that Tim Russert noted NBC news anchor –without warning-died of a heart attack this year.

This is what Dr. Michael A. Newman, Russert’s doctor, said in the NY time’s political blog the Caucus, “Mr. Russet had coronary artery disease, but no symptoms. He had done everything he was supposed to do to manage the disease,.. Mr. Russert was managing his risk factors well, through diet and exercise.... These incidents occur without warning, the doctor said, and there’s no way to anticipate them. He could have had a stress test today and it might have been normal. But there was a rupture of cholesterol plaque in the wall of the coronary artery, which results in a heart attack, or what he called a fatal ventricular arrhythmia.

     

Women are just as vulnerable as men.  Heart disease thought the sole domain of men is now just as common in women after menopause.  In fact, time magazine said that one out of every three women will die of a heart attack.  The preconceived bias that women don’t have heart attacks has led to many women being sent home from emergency rooms with a diagnosis of heartburn or muscle pain.  They send many women home with the assurance that the pain will go away.  Some suffer permanent heart damage and death due to the misdiagnosis.  These ideas are rapidly changing due to the sudden and prevalent amount of heart attacks suffered by women.

The sad part is that in Tim Russert’s case his doctor said he was doing everything he could by modern medical standards, or was he?  With such an epidemic was he really doing all that he could?  Are there things that could prevent a heart attack other than diet and exercise?  We will see what the research says.  I know that most people think that modern medicine has a handle on this but the facts speak for themselves.  Along with heart attacks, there is an epidemic of high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, heart palpitations, chest pain, and irregular heartbeat (arrhythmias).  The same arrhythmia that killed Russert by causing the rupturing of the plague that had built up in his arteries.

 

Treatment hasn’t changed in the ability of modern medicine to find the cure in over forty years.  New drugs, new surgical procedures and all with the same old result.  There have been some successes with cholesterol lowering drugs but only with people who already have advanced heart disease.  Let me tell you that cholesterol-lowering drugs are totally ineffective for people over 65 and for all women. 

There is no need to bash the medical profession.  They are highly skilled and caring professionals and the best minds in the country.  Even so, the basic assumption that drugs or surgery can solve everything without looking at the underlying cause is a naive one.  If there are things you can do and vitamins and nutrients you can take to stop heart disease, prevent it, and reverse it, you need to read my book 'Your heart may be a ticking time bomb' to be released in March 2011.

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