Thursday, December 6, 2012

Heart Disease & Vitamin C Deficiency

There is a very humble vitamin that, although hundreds of studies have been done showing its efficacy in treating a variety of diseases, is very often overlooked.  I'm talking about Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid.  The amount recommended as a minimum daily requirement by the FDA is a mere 60 milligrams, just enough to prevent scurvy.  What hasn't been realized is that much greater amounts are required to maintain optimum health.  Lack lack of sufficient Vitamin C is often at the root of many of today's degenerative diseases.

I first became aware of the need for more Vitamin C after reading a book by Dr. Thomas Levy, MD, JD, entitled Stop America's #1 Killer!  In this book Dr. Levy, a cardiologist, goes into great detail outlining the many ways in which a reversible Vitamin C deficiency is at the root of all coronary heart disease.  Vitamin C is a terrific antioxidant and detoxifier that is constantly being neutralized by the toxins it neutralizes.

According to Dr. Levy, our blood vessels are surrounded by an intracellular glue, known as ground substance.  It's like the mortar that holds our tissues together.  Vitamin C is essential to maintain this intracellular glue, which has a gel-like consistency.  In the face of insufficient Vitamin C, this consistency is lost, becomes watery, and is the first step to atherosclerosis.  When the ground substance loses its grip on the cells that line the interior walls of blood vessels, the body compensates by thickening the arterial wall.

He says the body can appear to be very clinically very healthy while specific areas are severely deficient in Vitamin C.  When any toxins are released into the blood, the inner lining of the arteries is logically one of the first destinations for the toxins to gather and start neutralizing Vitamin C stores, eventually breaking down the intracellular glue in blood vessels.  Dr. Levy goes on to talk about Vitamin C in relation to cholesterol, triglycerides, inflammation in the body and other factors associated with heart disease.  His discussion is thorough, easy to understand and backed by research and experience.

Dr. Levy also talks about the fact that glucose and related sugars compete directly with Vitamin C for the same transport mechanism into the cells of the body.  This makes it appear that the more glucose and other sugars are available in the blood, the less Vitamin C will accumulate inside the cells of the body.  Dr. Levy says this suppression of Vitamin C transport into the cells of the body by excess sugar appears to be "at least one significant mechanism by which sugar can stimulate the development of atherosclerosis and heart disease".

There are many sources of toxicity in today's world that can lower the amount of Vitamin C stores in our bodies: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, exhaust fumes, lotions, cleansers, and even shampoos are just some of the sources of possible toxic exposure that nearly everyone faces on a daily basis.  For those whose work requires them to be in contact with toxic materials, such as certain arts and crafts, pest control personnel, dentists and others, this risk is even higher.

This brings me to another source of daily toxicity for many people: mercury amalgam fillings and root canals.  Dr. Levy says it is absolutely essential to remove root-canal teeth and mercury amalgam fillings from your mouth to reduce the daily onslaught of toxic exposure, which constantly depletes levels of Vitamin C.  

I had all my mercury amalgam fillings replaced with either composites or ceramic crowns over 12 years ago while going through a severe health crisis (chronic fatigue and incapacitating dizziness, but that's a subject for another day), but did not fully realize the dangers of root canals at the time.  As a result, I let my dentist talk me into having 2 root canals in the next five years.  Two months ago, I had them removed by another dentist who is more hip to the dangers of modern dentistry.  I'd rather do without them or wear a partial denture than subject my immune system to the constant assault of toxins released by teeth that have had root canals.  But I digress.

Dr. Levy has written another eye-opening book that goes even further into the discussion of Vitamin C as it relates to a myriad of other aspects of health, called Primal Panacea.  I'll talk about that in my next post.  

You can order Dr. Levy's book, Stop America's #1 Killer, on his website or on Amazon.  I don't get any compensation for recommending his books.  I just want to help spread the awareness!  Good health is our greatest asset.

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