Occlusion of Lenticulostriate Artery by Jeffrey Dach www.drdach.com
telephone1138
of the arm and leg which was found to be occlusion of the middle
cerebral artery on his CAT scan. He is about my age and was previously
healthy with no risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking or
obesity. Thankfully, he recovered quickly and back to normal at home.
An inexpensive preventive measure which is often ignored is the role
of Vitamin C in stroke prevention. Vitamin C is cheap, pennies a day,
so there is no financial incentive to anyone to recommend it.
Here are two of many recent studies published in the medical
literature showing Vitamin C to be beneficial in reducing the risk of
stroke.
This first study was carried out in rural Japan, and blood levels of
Vitamin C were measured in 880 men and 1,241 women ages 40 and older
who were healthy and stroke-free. During the 20-year observation
period, 196 strokes occurred, and the people who had the highest serum
Vitamin C had 70 per cent fewer strokes. (1 )
A second study done in Finland in 2002 showed similar results (2 ).
Researchers tested blood levels of vitamin C in 2,400 Finnish men aged
42 to 60 to see if blood levels of vitamin C could be correlated with
stroke risk. Results showed men whose blood levels of vitamin C fell
into the lowest quarter had a 2.4 times greater risk of stroke than
those in the highest quarter. Men with high blood pressure or those
who were overweight had even higher risk if they also had low blood
levels of vitamin C. The arteries are made of a connective tissue
substance called Collagen, and vitamin C is the key nutrient for
collagen synthesis.
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health included
15,769 participants ranging in age from 12 to 74 years and found a
distressing 10 percent of women and 14 percent of men to be deficient
in Vitamin C. (3 )
Is the Recommended Dietary Allowance for Vitamin C Too Low? How much
Vitamin C is enough?
These are the different recommendations depending on the source:
Daily Vitamin C........Source of Recommendation
60-95 mg................U.S. Government RDA
200 mg...................Levin/NIH
400 mg...................Linus Pauling Institute (7)
2500 mg.................Hickey/Roberts (12)
4000 mg.................Robert Cathcart MD III (4)
6-12 g....................Thomas E Levy, MD, PHD (6)
All animals with the exception of primates (humans), the guinea pig
and the fruit bat make their own vitamin C from glucose. We humans
lack the final enzyme step needed to make our own Vitramin C. However,
on an equivalent-weight basis with animals that can synthesize their
own vitamin C, healthy adult humans would produce about 2 to 4 grams
(2,000 to 4,000 milligrams) of vitamin C daily. Primates such as
gorillas which also cannot make their own vitamin C consume
approximately 3 to 4 grams of vitamin C daily (calculated on a "human-
weight basis"). Determining how much supplemental vitamin C to take
is fairly easy using a tolerance-test technique developed by Dr.
Cathcart. (4) The tolerance test starts with a dose of 2 grams of
vitamin C per day. Then, slowly increase your dose each day until you
start experiencing excess gas or loose bowels. At that point, your
body isn't absorbing or able to use that much, so you should scale
back to the largest amount that doesn't produce these symptoms.
There are Two Forms of Vitamin C : The (L) is Active and (R) is
Inactive
The vitamin C at the health food store is only half real vitamin C.
There are two types of Vitamin C, the (L) isomer is biologically
active, and the R isomer is Not active. The Vitamin C you buy at the
health food store is a mixture of half (L) and half (R), so half of it
is biologically inactive!!!. Maybe that's why some of the Vitamin C
studies show poor results: they used the wrong isomer (R) that is
inactive!!! (5)
To avoid the inactive Vitamin C (R) Isomer problem, you can get all of
your Vitamin C from citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons and limes,
etc. And if you wish to use a Vitamin C supplement, I would recommend
a buffered, 100% pure (L) isomer of Vitamin C (ascorbate). This is
exactly what our office provides to all our clients, and the cost is
about 5 cents a day. In terms of medical prevention bang for the buck,
you can't beat it.
References:
(1 ) Stroke. 2000;31:2287. Serum Vitamin C Concentration Was Inversely
Associated With Subsequent 20-Year Incidence of Stroke in a Japanese
Rural Community The Shibata Study Full text
(2 ). Plasma Vitamin C Modifies the Association Between Hypertension
and Risk of Stroke. Stroke, 2002;33:1568-1573 S. Kurl, MD; T.P.
Tuomainen, MD; J.A. Laukkanen, MD; K. Nyyssönen, PhD;
(3) Hampl JS, Taylor CA, Johnston CS. "Vitamin C deficiency and
depletion in the United States: the Third National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 to 1994." Am J Public Health 2004;
94(5): 870-875
(4) Cathcart RF. Vitamin C, Titrating To Bowel Tolerance,
Anascorbemia, and Acute Induced Scurvy. Medical Hypotheses 1981; 7:
1,359-1,376
(5) Vitamin C, the L and R isomers: Wikipedia
(6) Thomas Levy MD on Vitamin C
(7) Linus Pauling Institute References for Vitamin C
(8) Knekt P, et al. "Antioxidant vitamins and coronary heart disease
risk: a pooled analysis of 9 cohorts." Am J Clin Nutr 2004; 80(6):
1,508-1,520.
(9) Klenner FR. "The Treatment of Poliomyelitis and Other Virus
Diseases with Vitamin C." Southern Medicine & Surgery 1949: 209
(10) Ascorbic Acid and Some Other Modern Analogs of the Germ Theory.
Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, 1999; Vol 14 (3): 143-56. John T.
A. Ely, Ph.D.Radiation Studies, Box 351310 University of
WashingtonSeattle, WA 98195
(11) Publications by Robert F. Cathcart MD
(12) Dr. Hickey and Roberts Vitamin C recommendations