Studies explain how vitamin C deficiency might be the root cause of hardening of the arteries

In the Sacramento and Davis regional area, the University of California, Davis and in the Bay area, the University of California, Berkeley for several years have been studying the effects of vitamin C on lowering blood pressure and possibly reversing hardening of the arteries and inflammation.

See the article, Vitamins C and E help stop atherosclerosis. Researchers at the UC Davis Medical Center suggest that the optimum regimen may well be 600-800 IU/day of natural vitamin E plus 500 mg/day of vitamin C, according to the article referring to the study. The UC Davis researchers emphasize that vitamins C and E must be taken together as vitamin-C is needed for regeneration of vitamin-E, according to the article.

It would also appear that it may be crucial to use natural vitamin E (d-alpha- tocopherol) rather than synthetic (dl-alpha-tocopherol) in order to achieve the desired effect. The researchers point out that the treatment effect among participants who had carotid plaques at baseline was more than 50%. This is comparable to the effect of the most effective cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins), but with no adverse effects and at a much lower cost.

Check out the primary source, which is the study or read the study's abstract, "Six-year effect of combined vitamin C and E supplementation on atherosclerotic progression." Authors are, Salonen, Riitta M., et al. Six-year effect of combined vitamin C and E supplementation on atherosclerotic progression. Circulation, Vol. 107, February 25, 2003, pp. 947-53.

Then, check out this California study published in the Nutrition Journal, "Vitamin C in plasma is inversely related to blood pressure and change in blood pressure during the previous year in young Black and White women." Also see, "Hypertension and ascorbic acid: The Lancet."

Have you heard constant news about hardening of the arteries? How about atherosclerotic coronary artery disease? One excellent article written by Thomas E. Levy, a board-certified cardiologist who also is an attorney repors that a vitamin C deficiency may be the ultimate cause of coronary atherosclerosis. Check out this article, "Arterial Scurvy: A unified theory of the etiology, prevention, and reversal of coronary atherosclerosis." It's published in the May 2011 issue #334, of the Townsend Letter. Check with your public library to see whether this issue is available through interlibrary loan, unless you already subscribe to the publication.

Basically, over time you've heard of various causes of hardening of the arteries from inflammation to too high cholesterol levels (which lower your vitamin C levels). In this article, you get an excellent introduction, a description of what normal coronary anatomy should look like, and what the degenerative stage of atherosclerosis is like, what the process is in the degenerative stage. But what you get is a lot more from this article: prevention. The premise of the article is that it's arterial scurvy.

You remember in history that scurvy affected sailors and others who didn't have any access to foods containing vitamin C? This article explores arterial scurvy, vitamin C deficiency in your arteries. The article also examines inflammation. One example would be looking at the toxic bacteria in most root canals and how they may cause inflammation.

Check out this article because research shows that vitamin C is beneficial not only in lowering blood pressure, but also one study showed that a vitamin C deficiency alone, in guinea pigs, resulted in arterial accumulations of cholesterol. That result happened in the absence of elevated cholesterol and triglycerides. Could what happens in guinea pigs also be applied to what happens in humans? Another study on rabbits found that an increased intake of vitamin C lessened the atherosclerosis-inducing effedts of an increased dietary intake of cholesterol and hydrogenated fat.

And in another study with animals, vitamin C deficiency in that research project faciliated the deposits of fats from the blood into the arteries, even when those fat (lipid) levels were not elevated. In still another study with lab animals, results showed that without vitamin C, in the face of extra cholesetrol, the vitamin C deficiency further accelaterated the process of hardening of the arteries.

What is helpful in the article is the list of studies backing up the evidence that vitamin C deficiency is at the root cause of hardening of the arteries. Also the article noted that "root-canal treated teeth appear to be major provokers of atherosclerosis."

Interestingly is that when there's a lack of vitamin C in the diet, the calcium levels build up. According to the article, "it has also been established that calcium is not only a consistent component of atherosclerotic plaques, it also comprises a consistent fraction of the plaque, about 20%."

The article notes that hardening of the arteries and inflammation of the arteries is reversable. For example, administration of vitamin C resulted in "less new cholesterol deposition in plaques along with more release back to the blood of previously deposited cholesterol." Check out the study (or the study's abstract) on this, "The effect of ascorbic acid on experimental atherosclerosis." Cor Vasa. 1964;6398:19-25.

Also check out the abstract of the study, "Plasma ascorbic acid concentrations relate inversely to blood pressure in human subjects," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1993;57:213-217. And see, "Vitamin C status and blood pressure," Journal of Hypertension, 1996;14:503-508. And see the study, "Vitamin C and blood pressure - an overview," Journal of Human Hypertension. 1997;11:343-350. Also see, Effect of vitamin C on ambulatory blood pressure and plasma. You may also want to check out the editorial, "Antioxidants and atherosclerosis: Don't throw out the baby with the bath water," Circulation, Vol. 107, February 25, 2003, pp. 926-28 (editorial), by Jialal, I. and Devaraj, S.

Also see, Nutrition and metabolism: Current Opinion in Lipidology. Check out the study, "Relation of ascorbic acid to coronary artery calcium: The coronary artery risk development in young adults study," American Journal of Epidemiology, 2004;159:581-588. Also see the article, Vitamin C and the repair of injured tissues. Lancet, 1942;2:661-664.

You'll also find 70 references listed with Dr. Thomas E. Levy's article, including his excellent book, Optimal Nutrition for Optimal Health, New York: Keats Publishing; 2001. Dr. Levy is a leading authority on the critical role of oxidative stress in causing diseases, as well as on the essential role of antioxidants in neutralizing this factor. High recommendations here for the book. Check out the studies and related information.