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Three Vitamins Fight
Heart Disease
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Heart Disease and Vitamins
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Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, March 23, 2005
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Vitamin E: Safe, Effective, and Heart-Healthy
(Scroll down the page for information on how vitamin C and niacin are also
effective.)
(OMNS) Heart disease is
the number one killer in the
Two landmark studies
published in the New England Journal of Medicine [1][2]
followed a total of 125,000 men and women health care professionals for a
total of 839,000 person study-years. It was found that those who supplement
with at least 100 IU of vitamin E daily reduced their risk of heart disease
by 59 to 66%. The studies were adjusted for life-style differences (smoking,
physical activity, dietary fiber intake, aspirin use) in order to determine
the heart effect of vitamin E supplementation alone. Because a diet high in
foods containing vitamin E as compared to the average diet further showed
only a slight heart-protective effect, the authors emphasized the necessity
of vitamin E supplementation.
Researchers at
Pioneer vitamin E
researchers and clinicians Drs. Wilfrid and Evan
Shute treated some 30,000 patients over several decades and found that people
in average health received maximum benefit from 800 IU of the d-alpha
tocopherol form of vitamin E. Vitamin E has been proven effective in the
prevention and treatment of many heart conditions. "The complete or
nearly complete prevention of angina attacks is the usual and expected result
of treatment with alpha tocopherol" according to Wilfrid
Shute, M. D., a cardiologist. Shute prescribed up to 1,600 IU of vitamin E
daily and successfully treated patients for acute coronary thrombosis, acute
rheumatic fever, chronic rheumatic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease,
diabetes mellitus, acute and chronic nephritis, and even burns, plastic
surgery and mazoplasia.
How it works
The reason one nutrient
can cure so many different illnesses is because a deficiency of one nutrient
can cause many different illnesses.
Vitamin E is a powerful
antioxidant in the body's lipid (fat) phase. It can prevent LDL lipid peroxidation caused by free radical reactions. Its
ability to protect cell membranes from oxidation is of crucial importance in
preventing and reversing many degenerative diseases.
In addition, vitamin E
inhibits blood clotting (platelet aggregation and adhesion) and prevents
plaque enlargement and rupture.
Finally, it has
anti-inflammatory properties, which may also prove to be very important in
the prevention of heart disease.
Among other things,
vitamin E supplementation: If all Americans daily
supplemented with a good multivitamin-multimineral,
plus extra vitamins C and E, it could save thousands of lives a month.
References Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, April 22, 2005
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Vitamin C Saves Lives
(Scroll down
the page for information on how niacin is also effective.)
(OMNS) Millions die each
year from heart disease and stroke, and the overwhelming evidence is that
vitamin C supplementation would save many lives.
Two-time Nobel Prize
winner Dr. Linus Pauling estimated that the rate of heart disease would be
reduced by 80 per cent if adults in the
A study examined vitamin
E and vitamin C supplement use in relation to mortality risk in 11,178
persons aged 67-105 who participated in the Established Populations for
Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly over a nine year period. [3]
Simultaneous use of vitamins E and C was associated with a lower risk of
total mortality and coronary mortality after adjusting for alcohol use,
smoking history, aspirin use, and medical conditions.
A landmark study
following over 85,000 nurses over a 16-year period for a total of 1,240,000
person-years found that vitamin C supplementation significantly reduced the
risk of heart disease. [4] Intake of vitamin C from foods alone was
insufficient to significantly effect the rate of
heart disease. High quantities of vitamin C from
supplements was essential to provide the protective effects. The study
adjusted for age, smoking, and a variety of other coronary risk factors.
An international team
pooled data from nine prospective studies of 293,000 people that included
information on intakes of vitamin E, carotenoids, and vitamin C, with a
10-year follow-up to check for major incident coronary heart disease events
in people without disease when the study began. Dietary intake of antioxidant
vitamins was only weakly related to a reduced coronary heart disease risk.
However, subjects who took as little as 700 mg of vitamin C daily in
supplement form reduced their risk of heart disease events by 25 per cent
compared to those who took no supplements. [5]
Researchers in
A stroke commonly occurs
when a blood clot or thrombus blocks the blood flow to parts of the brain. A
thrombus may form in an artery affected by arteriosclerosis. A recent study
has shown how low plasma vitamin C was associated with increased risk of
stroke, especially among hypertensive and overweight men. [7]
Vitamin C is preserves
the integrity of the artery walls and strengthens cardiovascular tissue.
Research indicates a reduced incidence of major coronary heart disease events
at high supplemental vitamin C intakes. [8] Recent studies have shown that
vitamin C appears to reduce levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of
inflammation, and there is a growing body of evidence that chronic
inflammation is linked to an increased risk of heart disease. [9]
Most Americans fail to
eat the US RDA for several vitamins and minerals. Supplements are not the
problem; they are the solution. Malnutrition is the problem.
References [2] "Long-term combined beneficial effects of physical training and metabolic treatment on arterioscleroses in hypercholesterolemic mice", Ignarro, LJ, Publication of the National Academy of Science, Vol 101, 246-252, June 8, 2004. [3] Losonczy KG, Harris TB, Havlik RJ. Vitamin E and vitamin C supplement use and risk of all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality in older persons: the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly.Am J Clin Nutr, Vol 64, No 2, p 190-6 Aug 1996. See also: Neale RJ, Lim H, Turner J, Freeman C, Kemm JR. The excretion of large vitamin C loads in young and elderly subjects: an ascorbic acid tolerance test. Age Ageing, Jan 1988, 17 (1) p 35-41. [4] Osganian SK, Stampfer MJ, Rimm E et al. Vitamin C and risk of coronary heart disease in women. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003 Jul 16;42(2):246-52.[5] Knekt P, Ritz J, Pereira MA et al. Antioxidant vitamins and coronary heart disease risk: a pooled analysis of 9 cohorts. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6):1508-20. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, September 30, 2005
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Niacin (Vitamin B3)
Lowers High Cholesterol Safely
(OMNS) There is a safe,
inexpensive, nonprescription, convenient and effective way to reduce high
cholesterol levels and reduce heart disease risk: niacin. Niacin is a
water-soluble B-complex vitamin, vitamin B-3. One of niacin's unique
properties is its ability to help you naturally relax and to fall asleep more
rapidly at night. It is well established that niacin helps reduce harmful
cholesterol levels in the bloodstream. Niacin is one of the best substances
for elevating high density lipoprotein cholesterol (the "good cholesterol)
and so decreases the ratio of the total cholesterol over high density
cholesterol.
The finding that niacin
lowered cholesterol was soon confirmed by Parsons, Achor,
Berge, McKenzie and Barker (1956) and Parsons (1961, 1961a, 1962) at the Mayo
Clinic, which launched niacin on its way as a hypocholesterolemic substance.
Since then it has been found to be a normalizing agent, meaning it elevates
high density lipoprotein cholesterol, decreases low density and very low
density lipoprotein cholesterol and lowers triglycerides. Grundy, Mok, Zechs and Berman (1981)
found it lowered cholesterol by 22 percent and triglycerides by 52 percent
and wrote, "To our knowledge, no other single agent has such potential
for lowering both cholesterol and triglycerides."
Elevated cholesterol
levels are associated with increased risk of developing coronary disease. In
addition to niacin, a typical diet generally recommended by orthomolecular
physicians will tend to keep cholesterol levels down in most people. This
diet can be described as a high fiber, sugar-free diet which is rich in
complex polysaccharides such as vegetables and whole grains.
With adequately high
doses of niacin, it is possible to lower cholesterol levels even with no
alteration in diet. E. Boyle, then working with the National Institutes of
Health in
Niacin Combined With
Other Drugs Which Lower Cholesterol
Familial
hypercholesterolemia is an inherited disease in which plasma cholesterol
levels are very high. Illingworth, Phillipson, Rapp
and Connor (1981) described a series of 13 patients treated with Colestipol 10 grams twice daily and later 15 grams twice
daily. Their cholesterol levels ranged from 345 to 524 and triglycerides from
70 to 232. When this drug plus diet did not decease cholesterol levels below
270 mg/100 mL they were given niacin, starting with
250 mg three times daily and increasing it every two to four weeks until a
final dose of 3 to 8 grams per day was reached. To reduce the niacin
"flush," patients took aspirin (120 to 180 mg) with each dose for
four to six weeks. At these dosage levels of niacin they found no abnormal
liver function test results. This combination of drugs normalized blood
cholesterol and lipid levels. They concluded, "In most patients with
heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, combined drug therapy with a bile
acid sequestrant and n! icotinic acid (niacin) results in a normal or near
normal lipid profile. Long term use of such a regimen affords the potential
for preventing, or even reversing, the premature development of
atherosclerosis that occurs so frequently in this group of patients."
Fortunately, niacin does
not decrease cholesterol to dangerously low levels. Cheraskin and Ringsdorf (1982) reviewed some of the evidence which
links very low cholesterol levels to an increased incidence of cancer and
greater mortality in general.
Niacin usually causes a
flush when beginning treatment. The flush can be uncomfortable, but it is not
dangerous. In order to slowly acclimate the body to niacin and minimize the
flush, the following steps can be taken:
Anyone interested in this
approach might go to a discount store and buy a bottle of 100 mg niacin
tablets and a bottle of 1000 mg vitamin C tablets.
One should expect to
begin by taking 1000 mg of vitamin C and 50 mg of niacin three times a day,
preferably after each meal. Niacin tablets are scored and a 100 mg tablet is
easily broken along the score to produce two 50 mg half-tablets of niacin.
After three or four days,
the niacin dosage is increased to 100 mg three times a day. One might
continue increasing the niacin by 50 mg or 100 mg every three or four days
until the dosage of 1000 mg of niacin and 1000 mg of vitamin C are taken
three times a day.
It normally takes about
three months on the higher dosage of niacin and vitamin C for cholesterol
levels to stabilize at lower levels. How much does taking 3000 mg of niacin
and vitamin C cost? These two vitamins can be purchased for a total cost of
about 50 cents a day.
Continuous use of niacin
can be expected to reliably decrease mortality and prolong life.
Remember:
There is not even one death per year from vitamins. http://www.doctoryourself.com/vitsafety.html
Pharmaceutical drugs, properly prescribed and taken as directed, kill over
100,000 Americans annually. Hospital errors kill still more.
Restoring health must be
done nutritionally, not pharmacologically. All cells in all persons are made
exclusively from what we drink and eat. Not one cell is made out of drugs.
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Andrew W. Saul, OMNS editor-in-chief, is also the author
of the books FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy (reader
reviews at http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html
) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html
)
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