Deficient-C and Plaque

Most of us have heard of Linus Pauling. He received two Nobel Prizes—one for chemistry in 1954 and the Peace Prize in 1962—but despite his intelligence in that area, many thought his ideas on vitamin C were quackish. Well, new light is being shed on Pauling’s ideas, according to “Reversing Heart Disease with a Vitamin,” which appeared in the July/August ’11 Well-Being Journal—and they make a lot of sense.

In a nutshell, Pauling believed that heart disease was a form of scurvy, “and plaque is the body’s attempt to reinforce and patch weakened blood vessels and arteries that would otherwise rupture.” Now scientists are beginning to believe that arterial plaque isn’t heart disease itself but rather the body’s attempt to repair arterial damage caused by vitamin C deficiency.

According to “Vitamin C and Heart Health,” another article in that same issue by Jim English and Hyla Cass, M.D., in 1985 researchers showed that plaque forms only in areas of the artery that become damaged. The plaque is like spackle to fill the cracks—and, according to Pauling, those cracks are caused by lack of collagen, of which vitamin C is a direct precursor.

Another interesting fact that backs Pauling’s belief is that cardiovascular disease does not occur in animals that can manufacture their own vitamin C. Many of them produce enough to be the equivalent of 10 to 20 grams in humans. In a Canadian study performed in 1954, G.C. Willis, M.D., showed that doses of only 500 milligrams three times a day made significant improvements in arterial blockages in heart patients.

English and Cass conclude their article with this: “In his United Theory, Linus Pauling often recommended 3,000 to 5,000 milligrams per day as an effective dose. Anecdotal reports from patients using the Pauling therapy indicate that rapid recovery is frequently the rule, not the exception, allowing many people to avoid open-heart surgery and angioplasty.”

Vitamin C is not expensive. Get some, and take it regularly.