New Study Recognizes Role Of Vitamin C In Reducing Death Toll From Cardiovascular Disease

A new study has recognized that higher intakes of vitamin C significantly reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Published in the Nutrients journal by researchers in Spain, the researchers found that study participants with the highest intakes of this essential micronutrient reduced their risk by an impressive 70 percent. By confirming the role of vitamin C in preventing deaths from cardiovascular disease, the study adds further support to Dr. Rath’s quarter-century of groundbreaking scientific research and discoveries in this area.

Designed in the form of an observational study, the researchers followed a total of 13,421 participants for an average of 11 years. The data gathered was obtained through participants filling in a food frequency questionnaire every 2 years. The questionnaire asked the participants to report how often on average they had consumed 136 foods and beverages during the past year. Particularly notably, study participants with the highest intakes of vitamin C were shown to be more likely to use supplements than those with lower intakes.

Optimal prevention of cardiovascular disease requires other nutrients as well

Interestingly, while the researchers found that vitamin C reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, after “adjusting” their results to take account of total fiber intake – in the belief that some of the protective effect observed could instead supposedly be attributed to higher intakes of dietary fiber – they concluded there was no significant association between vitamin C intake and the risk of the disease developing. In other words, they essentially claim higher levels of vitamin C alone don’t prevent the development of cardiovascular disease but that they do reduce the risk of dying from it. The questionable wisdom of the researchers’ “adjustment” aside, there are several aspects of this conclusion that we need to examine.

Firstly, while a healthy diet is vital, an insufficient fiber intake is not the determining factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. As Dr. Rath’s research – conducted over more than a quarter of a century – has definitively shown, the primary cause of this disease is vitamin C deficiency. Following the publication of his seminal scientific papers on this subject in the late 1980s and early 1990s, scientists at the Dr. Rath Research Institute have built on this understanding and demonstrated that, through optimum intake of vitamin C, the end of the cardiovascular epidemic is now possible. In 2015, in a groundbreaking study published in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease, they provided proof that cardiovascular disease is essentially an early form of the vitamin C deficiency disease scurvy. Studying mice that mimic human metabolism, they found the degree to which the animals developed cardiovascular disease was inversely related to their intake of vitamin C.

But while vitamin C plays a major role in preventing cardiovascular disease, it is not the only micronutrient involved in doing so. The amino acids lysine and proline, as well as other specific micronutrients, also play key roles in maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system. This understanding is central to the micronutrient synergy approach to health that has been developed by researchers at the Dr. Rath Research Institute.

The micronutrient synergy approach is based on the scientific principle that while vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other micronutrients are all required for the normal functions of our body, they do not work independent from one another. Instead, they participate in complex metabolic processes and interact either by enhancing or opposing each other’s actions in the body. Their optimal interaction and cellular balance provides the basis for maintaining health and for preventing heart attacks, strokes, and other life-threatening cardiovascular problems.

In conclusion, therefore, as crucial as vitamin C is in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, human health is not solely determined by any single nutrient but on carefully balanced combinations of specific nutrients acting in biological synergy. The global eradication of cardiovascular diseases as the main cause for human mortality thus depends upon people everywhere understanding this principle, acting on it, and sharing it with others.