HEART DISEASE

Two Problems Clash with Devastating Results

Atherosclerosis is a Vitamin C Deficiency Disease

Every year half a million people die from coronary heart disease. In a recent CNN article discussing a new study based on the data from the Framingham study concludes: The study “reaffirms the notion that coronary heart disease is the 800-pound gorilla of disease in this country, now and for the foreseeable future,” says cardiologist Dr. Stuart Seides. Heart attacks were virtually unknown before the turn of the century. Our diets, especially in “developed” countries have gone through dramatic changes in this period. There is a very real connection between this new disease and our new diets.

As we discuss in the Primer section, Vitamin C is required for tissue integrity. Tissues that are under constant stress are particularly vulnerable to degradation from C deficiency. This is certainly true of our arteries.

Shortly before his death at 93, Linus Pauling and Matthias Rath had completed work on the link between atherosclerosis and Vitamin C (please see the link in the side bar). They had concluded that chronic Vitamin C deficiency lead to a serious compromising of our arterial system. Our bodies respond to this situation with a healing process. Let me explain.

Imagine your arterial wall to be like a stone dam. This is a reasonable analogy since your cells are like the stones and the water being held by the dam is similar to the blood under pressure in our arteries. Now, if the cement between the rocks is inferior, leaks could occur. Likewise in our arteries, if the ground substance between our cells is inferior due to lack of the proper development of collagen and fibrils as a result of inadequate Vitamin C, the arterial wall may be susceptible to seepage.

When arteries are compromised, our systems produce a specialized, sticky form of low-density lipoprotein (yes, there is a link with cholesterol. Please read the side bar) called Lp(a) which attaches itself to the arterial wall to prevent blood seepage. This is consistent with where arterial plaque is found – where there are lesions and where there is particular stress (i.e. at branches, in arteries, not veins, due to the pressure and in coronary arteries due to the stress of the constant motion).

A study, Vitamin C Deficiency and Risk of Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack) was published in the March 1997 issue of the British Medical Journal. The Aceology Medical Review states this conclusion:

This study looked at the association between blood vitamin C concentration and risk of heart attack in 1605 men from eastern Finland who did not have evidence of coronary artery disease on exercise testing between 1984 and 1989.

Seventy of the men had a fatal or a non-fatal heart attack between 1984 and 1992. Among men with the vitamin C deficiency 13.2% had a heart attack compared to 3.8% in those who were not deficient in Vitamin C.

This study concludes that vitamin C deficiency may be a risk factor for coronary artery disease and heart attack.

A reader, Richard Johnston, sent me a copy of a story concerning a recent study that points to a relationship between heart attacks and low vitamin C. I have reprinted the article here. Also, in Rath’s book Eradicating Heart Disease, he discusses the “World’s Largest Health Study”, as shown below:

Substance Tested:	Vitamin C
Aim of The Study:	To study the effect of vitamin C on heart disease prevention.
Study Groups:	Two groups were included: Group A: Living beings able to manufacture vitamin C in their bodies. This group included most animals on earth. Group B: Living beings unable to manufacture vitamin C and frequently having a low dietary intake of this vitamin. This group included all human beings.
Study Size:	Group A: Several trillion study participants Group B: Several billion study participants
Study Duration:	Several thousands of human generations
Study Results:	Group A: Cardiovascular diseases are essentially unknown in this study group. Group B: Every second study participant of this group died from heart attacks and strokes.

While this is not a clinical study by any means, the data are strong and the correlation is quite convincing.

An excellent talk by Dr. Rath where he discusses his work in laymens terms is available online at (requires RealVideo player):

Dr. Rath Speaks in Pasadena, CA on the causes of Cardiovascular Disease

The Stage is Set – One More Element is Required to Produce a Heart Attack

The vast majority of cardiac events (heart attacks) are caused by a thrombus (blood clot) that gets stuck in an already narrowed (occluded) coronary artery. Blood flow to that section of heart muscle is cut off and the starvation of oxygen is the heart attack. If the lack of oxygen (ischemia) lasts very long, cells will die, leaving permanent heart injury or very commonly, death.

Vitamin E (see, I can discuss other things besides C) is our body’s natural anti-thrombin. It prevents the blood cells from aggregating, without the side affects of blood-thinning drugs (possibly blindness from macular degeneration).

Understanding that most heart attacks are a combination of both restricted blood vessels AND a blood clot, not getting a blood clot would seem a very good thing! If a blood clot gets lodged in a vessel in the brain, that’s a stroke – also something to avoid.

In Richard Passwater’s book Supernutrition for Healthy Hearts, he discusses his studies of 17,884 cases for evidence of alpha-tocopherol’s (vitamin E) impact on heart disease. Of most interest is one subgroup, those that had taken 400 IU or more of tocopherol for ten years or more. There were 2508 people in this group. Government statistics would indicate that of these 836 would be expected to have heart disease. The actual number reported was four! That is less than 1/2 of 1% of statistical expectations. A December 6, 1998 article at About.com discusses Vitamin E and Heart Disease.

Vitamin E also increases our cells ability to utilize oxygen. That is the primary reason it is used on burns. It allows more cells that were not killed, but are getting marginal nutrition due to circulatory damage in the area, to survive. This property of vitamin E also helps those with circulatory problems. This can include the minimization of angina (heart pain), cramps, and even have a positive effect on senility, which is very-much circulation related.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

I had a description of “Cough CPR” in this space. I have since learned that, while this method can be effective, it is only proper in the circumstance of cardiac arrest to avoid losing consciousness. Often patients with chest pains are not in such dire circumstances, but it is hard to know. Even then, it is not something you should do without previous, professional instruction. Under other circumstances, it can make matters worse, even making death more likely. A good article about this is available at Snopes.

In case you get chest pains and think you might be having a heart attack, the best thing you can do for yourself is to get help from someone close, if you can, call 911 and chew an Aspirin.

Heart Disease and Cholesterol

For a more detailed look at cholesterol, please visit the Saturated Facts page. the Atkins Diet page and our new page on Cholesterol.

There is a link between blood cholesterol and heart disease. As discussed in the main text, a special form of cholesterol is formed in our bodies which attaches to the arterial wall.

This is not done, however, just because cholesterol is present! This makes no sense. Our bodies produce cholesterol and it is used as a protective cover for every one of our sixty billion cells.

If our bodies synthesize 2000-3000mg of cholesterol every day, how much harm could 200 or 300mg of dietary cholesterol do. Controlled studies with eggs have shown no correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood levels. If anything, an argument could be made that dietary cholesterol is good, since it frees our body mechanisms from having to make quite so much (I don’t know of any concrete evidence of this, I’m just making a logical point).

If there is a direct link between serum cholesterol levels and atherosclerosis, it seems to me that it is because the diet involved is keeping the serum level dangerously low and our body does not allow any to be used for arterial deposit.

Stroke

Just as heart disease is primarily a disease of the vascular system, strokes are primarily a result of a deteriorated cerebrovascular system. A recent long-term study showed that high vitamin C levels were correlated to a reduced incidence of stroke. Please see the discussion in the In The News section and visit the new Stroke Section.

Chelation Therapy (ke-la shun)

Chelation is the molecular process of organic proteins binding with metal molecules. Hemoglobin uses this process to “hold” iron. This is what makes the transport of oxygen possible. Chelation therapy is the introduction of a synthetic amino acid, ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (abbreviated EDTA) intravenously, over a period of “treatments”. This therapy has been a FDA-approved therapy for heavy metal poisoning for over forty years.

EDTA has an affinity for calcium. Proponents of EDTA chelation therapy for atherosclerosis point out that arterial plaque has a basis of calcium and that the proper administration of EDTA starts a chain reaction that breaks down the arterial plaque where it is removed by the kidneys.

An outstanding source of EDTA chelation therapy research information is available on Dr. Cranton’s website. Dr. Cranton is a leading authority and advocate of chelation therapy. The abstract from A Retrospective Study of 2,870 Patients states (emphasis mine, Ed.):

Results are presented of a 28-month retrospective analysis of 2,870 patients with documented atherosclerosis and other degenerative, age associated diseases who were treated with intravenous disodium magnesium EDTA chelation therapy. Observed benefits strongly support the use of EDTA chelation therapy for those conditions. Marked improvement occurred in 76.9% and good improvement occurred in 17% of treated patients with ischemic heart disease. Marked improvement occurred in 91% and good improvement occurred in 8% of treated patients with peripheral vascular disease and intermittent claudication. In patients with cerebrovascular and other degenerative cerebral diseases, 24% had marked improvement, and 30% had good improvement. Of four patients with scleroderma, three had marked improvement and one had good improvement. Seventy-five percent of all patients had marked improvement in symptoms of vascular origin. Independent of pathology, 89% of all treated patients had marked or good improvement.

Please also visit Dr. Stoll’s page concerning chelation where he discusses his mother’s condition and his personal chelation training. On my editorial page, I discuss “If vitamin C is so great, how come nobody knows?”. Dr. James Carter discusses this same issue as it relates to EDTA chelation therapy on Dr. Cranston’s site: If EDTA Chelation Therapy is so good, Why Is It Not More Widely Accepted?

My father-in-law has extensive atherosclerosis. He had a “near” heart attack following his treatment of angioplasty (angioplasty is quite dangerous and of questionable long-term value). At my suggestion he investigated chelation therapy and took a course of twenty treatments. According to him, these treatments have had noticeable and positive long-term results, combined with dietary changes, rehabilitation and significant supplementation. A recent angiogram, compared side-by-side with the post-angioplasty results show some overall improvement in condition. This is significant since these conditions tend to only worsen over time.