Heart disease supplements being threatened

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, August-Sept, 2004 by Rose Marie Williams

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in this country. Dr. Matthias Rath, an international crusader for disease prevention, and staunch supporter of nutritional supplements, believes heart attacks and strokes are not true diseases, but the result of nutritional deficiencies. The heart may be considered the motor of the cardiovascular system, and as such requires optimum fuel for optimum performance. Superior fuel for the heart includes a variety of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and more. Modern eating habits combined with an agricultural system dependent on synthetic chemicals accelerate nutritional deficiencies in our country. Dr. Stephen Sinatra, clinical cardiologist at Manchester Memorial Hospital in Connecticut, uses the term nutritionals to refer to vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients he recommends for improving cardiovascular function among his patients. (1,2)

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Vitamin C

Vitamin C is essential for preventing cardiovascular disease and maintaining good health on many levels. Vitamin C is a major antioxidant and co-factor for many biochemical reactions. Its most important function is to stimulate the production of collagen, elastin, and other reinforcement molecules in the body. Collagen provides stability for bones, skin, and for the 60,000-mile-long walls of the arteries, veins, and capillaries. Dr. Rath, who worked closely with the great Linus Pauling, emphasizes "(T)he connection between vitamin C deficiency and instability of blood vessels is long established. Unfortunately, the next logical step has not been recognized until now: cardiovascular disease is nothing else than an early form of scurvy." (1)

Lesions and instability of blood vessel walls are primary causes of cardiovascular disease. Vitamin C is the cement that repairs and stabilizes blood vessel walls. In his book, Why Animals Don't Get Heart Attacks ... But Humans Do, Dr. Rath explains the importance of vitamin C. SAD, the Standard American Diet, provides barely enough vitamin C to prevent frank scurvy, but not enough vitamin C to provide stable, reinforced blood vessel walls. Cracks and lesions appear inside artery walls over time. Vitamin C is necessary for repairing artery walls and other wound healing. Insufficient vitamin C does not allow proper healing. To compensate, the body attempts to repair these lesions and cracks with an alternative method, making cholesterol and fat globules adhere to the inside of vessel walls to repair the damage. Prolonged vitamin C deficiency leads to an overabundance of atherosclerotic deposits in blood vessels. Deposits in arteries leading to the heart cause heart attacks. Deposits in arteries leading to the brain cause stroke. Dr. Rath believes optimum daily intake of vitamin C stabilizes blood vessel walls and helps prevent heart attacks and strokes. The reason animals don't get heart attacks is because they produce their own vitamin C, whereas humans do not. (1)

Coenzyme Q10

Dr. Stephen Sinatra calls CoQ10 the miracle nutrient of the 21st century, "because it has been proven to both prevent and treat a host of health problems including heart disease, cancer, periodontal disease and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers." "It can overcome male infertility, improve immune system function, and is an effective anti-aging remedy. (3)

Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone) is an important catalyst inside the energy center of each cell, and is in high demand by the heart. "The body requires certain blood levels of CoQ10 to function properly, and when blood levels fall, an increased vulnerability to disease and premature aging occurs." Dr. Sinatra believes that supplemental CoQ10 improves the quality of life in patients with disease, and saves lives as well. He has had remarkable results using CoQ10 with cardiac patients. CoQ10 has been proven useful in treating a variety of conditions including congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, angina, arrythmia, and other cardiological situations. Dr. Sinatra speaks of the negative bias against CoQ10 in mainstream medicine, where nutritional supplements get very little respect. Since it is not patentable it is not widely promoted among physicians and actually got bad press in a 1996 article in the Harvard Health Letter, which prompted Dr. Sinatra to reply regarding the amazing results he's witnessed among his own patients. (1,3)

Coenzyme Q10 protects and strengthens the heart while lowering blood pressure. Statin drugs, prescribed for millions of people to control cholesterol actually depletes CoQ10 levels in the body. Ironically, drugs marketed to reduce the risk of heart disease may, in fact, be increasing the risk of heart disease. (4)

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is the most important fat-soluble antioxidant vitamin and primary ally against heart disease. It protects against free radicals and oxidative damage. Vitamin E is rich in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and other cholesterol and fat transporting particles useful for preventing oxidation and interior blood vessel wall damage. It reduces the risk of blood clots by making platelets less sticky. A European study showed vitamin E "to be the most important risk factor for heart disease, beyond smoking." Vitamin E has been shown to dissolve clots, improve heart pump efficiency, widen arteries, and increase the available oxygen in the blood. (1,4)