Vitamin
C has always been good for your health, and it still is!
- Study on Vitamin C and heart disease
- farther clarification from the Vitamin C Foundation -
From: "Dr. Bill Misner, Ph.D."
drwill@uswest.net
I received this posting yesterday and
thought the endurance list would be interested. It appears partly to
explain why Vitamin C was attacked again by the news media, not by real
scientists...
A similar Vitamin C bashing took place
6-8 months ago claiming vitamin C caused DNA damage, but later we discovered
the DNA damage occurred in mishandling by graduate research lab technicians,
when they transferred the DNA from one media to another.
The recent story linking vitamin C "pills"
with "clogging" of the arteries.
We have been in contact with Professor
James Dwyer of the USC Medical School, one of the principal researchers.
As expected, this research seems to be good news for elderly vitamin
C takers whose carotid arteries have "thinned" with age. There
is no evidence of occlusion(or clogging), contrary to the media reports.
Here is what we have confirmed with Dr.
Dwyer:
1. There is no paper as we suspected. (The USC team's paper is in "peer
review" and not available.)
2. The USC team used a new "B-mode"
imaging technique which is still undergoing clinical trial for accuracy
at the NIH.
3. This B-mode imaging technique has
three indicators. The USC team only studied one; carotid arterial "thickening"
or "IMT". (Dr. Dwyer tells us there will be no reference in
their paper to the other two occlusion indicators; plaque index and
velocity ratio.)
4. According to correspondence, Dr. Dwyer
and the USC team is unaware that arteries might get thicker with increased
vitamin C intake, and that this is entirely predicted by theory. (Increased
Vitamin C stimulates collagen production, but this is not well taught
or well known in medical school.)
5. Last year, the same USC research team
(Dwyers, et. al) wrote a paper with the OPPOSITE findings. Last year
they found that stress (some would say a vitamin C deficiency) leads
to early atherosclerosis in men (March 1999).
Bottom line: There is no evidence of
occlusion, only thickening.
Now we need your help repairing the damage
caused by the premature release of this unpublished research. Millions
of people are now afraid of vitamin C. Please help spread the word.
We will post more information as it becomes available at:
www.vitaminCfoundation.org
Dr. Cathcart the leading expert on treating
people with high doses of vitamin C says,
"My experience with 25,000 patients
since 1969 indicates that this charge is ridiculous. I know that follow-up
is not perfect in private practice but I have had no patient who had
a good heart when I first saw them and who took massive doses of C who
ever developed heart problems. I have to add that I advise all my patients
to avoid sugar, chemicals, and highly process foods, and put them on
a number of other nutrients.
"If it turns out that there is thickening
of the carotid, I think it is reversing the thinning that occurs with
aging. It is interesting that the effect is so dramatic in the reversing
of the effect on smokers. I have to congratulate you at the Vitamin
C Foundation on unveiling the other two findings that could have been
measured which were not reported.
"Probably the finding that C helped
would not be publishable."
Sincerely,
Robert Cathcart, MD
March 10, 2000
Here is some technical information on
the B-mode imaging process. Note there are three measures, yet the USC
paper will only mentions one. The missing two measures are used to infer
occlusion.
Detailed B-mode images of the right and
left common carotid artery, common carotid bifurcation, and the first
centimeter of the internal carotid artery are obtained. Selected images
aredigitized for later measurement of intima-media thickness. After
imaging, the sonographer obtains pulsed wave Doppler measures of blood
flow velocity at the mid common (2 cm proximal to the carotid bulb)
and in the internal carotid artery at the point of highest velocity
distal to the flow divider. These are used to calculate the degree to
which plaque may be interfering with blood flow.
The scanning and reading protocols result
in three primary carotid disease measures:
1. average wall intima-media thickness
;
2. a measure of degree of focal plaque called the plaque index;
3. and the velocity ratio, a determination of whether or not plaque
is interfering with blood flow in the internal carotid artery.
Again, the USC team's report will
only concern arterial thickness. The occlusion indicators are not reported
for reasons unknown.
Owen R. Fonorow
The Vitamin C Foundation
www.vitaminCfoundation.org
By Claudio Capozza MBBS (Italy), Naturopathic Doctor (Australia) & www.laleva.cc
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