Peewee Amounts of Vitamin C Won’t Stop Heart Attacks
16 Feb 2013
How can the Harvard Medical School, my alma mater, be so backward about heart attack? It’s apparent its researchers never heard Linus Pauling when he countered critics with, “It’s the dosage, idiots,” Fortunately, a new remedy allows readers to benefit from Harvard’s error.
The Harvard study involved 15,000 healthy male doctors. Half were given a multivitamin pill, the others a placebo. Dr. Howard Sesso of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital reports that after 11 years of study, there was no difference between the two groups in rate of heart attack, stroke, heart failure or chest pain.
What amazes me about the Harvard study is how researchers could waste 11 years studying a project doomed to failure. The multivitamin used contained only 75 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C. This amount is potent enough to prevent scurvy, as only 10 mg is needed to guard against this ancient disease. But prescribing 75 mg of vitamin C to prevent coronary attack is like trying to kill an elephant with a BB gun.
Dr. Linus Pauling reported years ago that it requires several thousand milligrams of vitamin C, along with the amino acid lysine, to prevent coronary attack. Pauling also reminded us that animals produce thousands of mgs of vitamin C daily but humans lost this ability eons ago. This inability to make vitamin sets up humans for heart attack and stroke. Increased vitamin C has been proven to prevent this.
Vitamin C makes coronary arteries strong. As mortar binds bricks together, coronary cells are glued together by collagen. But it requires high doses of vitamin C and lysine to produce strong collagen. And just as steel rods provide extra strength to concrete, lysine increases the power of collagen.
Dr. William Stehbens, Professor of Pathology at Auckland University in New Zealand, reported years ago that Pauling was right. Stehbens emphasized that coronary arteries are under more pressure than any other arteries in the body. After all, they’re situated in the heart’s muscle, not in the big toe. Moreover they’re under constant pressure while the heart beats 100,000 times every 24 hours, or 37 million times a year, and 2.2 billion times if you live to 70 years of age.
Without sufficient vitamin C and lysine this constant pounding causes minute cracks in collagen, resulting in blood clots and possible death. Or a weakened artery breaks, causing a stroke.
Dr. Sydney Bush, an English researcher, should be eligible for the Nobel Prize for his finding. Bush took photos of the retina (back part of the eye), then prescribed large doses of vitamin C and lysine. One year later, photos showed that narrowed arteries were gradually restored to normal.
These historic findings are ignored by cardiologists and, sad to say, even by the Harvard Medical School. But medical consumers should benefit from this research when the facts are so valid. I bet my own life on vitamin C and lysine following a coronary attack 15 years ago. But I hated swallowing so many pills every day.
A year ago I persuaded a health food company to develop a combination powder of vitamin C and lysine. It’s now available online and at health food stores. A flat scoop of powder contains 2,000 mg of C and 1,300 mg of lysine, plus other heart-healthy ingredients. It should be taken twice a day with meals, or three times daily if there’s a history of heart disease. If diarrhea occurs, the dose should be reduced.
But since I inherited Scottish blood, I hate to see people wasting money. So don’t start high-dose vitamin C if it’s your intention to do so for only a few months. It won’t work. It needs to be a lifetime habit. Its benefit is being alive at 95 without having suffered a heart attack or stroke. And always check with your doctor before changing or starting medication.
