Vitamin C Supplements Uk Articles & Resources

In this design, we hope to overcome some of the more obvious objections to a long-term trial, ., subjects having to take a 'useless' placebo for 6 to 18 months. This design also overcomes many of the difficulties that A. Hoffer and others have written about, ethical and otherwise, such as the difficulty preparing a proper placebo for megadose therapies, the fact that patients do not like to cooperate in double-blind experiments leading to the high drop-out rates, the lack of physician time to perform realistic monitoring, patient placebo "switching," etc.

A. Hoffer, one of the pioneers of the double-blind method, having run one of the very first trials beginning in 1953, wrote in Vitamin C and Cancer: In Sum, I believe that the validity of the double-blind method has been grossly overvalued. It has only limited utility. In my opinion it does not reliably prove that effective treatments are effective or that ineffective ones are ineffective. Elsewhere I have examined the reasons why it is such a limited method. The main reason is that it violates the doctor-patient relationship and therefore creates a model that is too far removed from the real clinical relationships."

We do not believe that the lack of a "placebo controlled group" will lessen the value of the Pauling therapy study. First, two competing formulas will be evaluated head-to-head, as drugs often are. There is anecdotal evidence, and thus some reason to believe, that the elevated Lp(a) levels in the Pauling Therapy group can be lowered to zero (less than 3 mg/dl). Dr. Robert Feminella (New Jersey) reported to us on his personal experiment. He added 2 g lysine and .5 proline after a blood test revealed elevated Lp(a). This was the only change he made in his daily regimen, which already included supplements and vitamin C. Feminella reported that after six months his Lp(a) dropped by 40% and that after 18 months there was no detectable Lp(a) in his blood serum. If this effect could be monitored in a controlled setting, perhaps across some or most of the entire study group, it would be an outstanding result that we hope would merit further investigation by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other medical au thorities and researchers.

This study should also give, an interesting result. The Pauling high-dose vitamin Cllysine therapy will be directly compared, and thus quantitatively measured in terms of ASI and serum Lp(a) against the use of a major 'alternative' therapy, ., vitamins B6, B12, folate, etc. Before and after video interviews with each subject will also be conducted.

Placebos in the JAMA

Chelation Trial

It is interesting that organized medicine may have already run a similar trial on one-half of the so-called Pauling Therapy, ., (5 g vitamin C). During this 'placebo' controlled trial, both groups were given IV vitamin C and magnesium. While ethical, this approach (giving multivitamins and the vitamin C IV to the placebo group) did affect the conclusion. Evidently, the fact that a statistically significant result supporting the Pauling/Rath theory was produced was obscured. This is not an argument for inert placebos but one for making fully correct and less sweeping conclusions in papers.

In the JAMA study being referred to (Chelation Therapy for Ischemic Heart Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Knudtson, et al. JAMA, Jan 23/30, 2002 - Vol. 287, No 4. pp. 481-486), 5 g of vitamin C and 750 mg of magnesium were given intravenously to both the EDTA and the control (placebo) groups. The study paper, seemingly written to debunk EDTA chelation for heart disease, concluded that there is "no benefit of EDTA chelation over placebo," yet from the text in JAMA we read that the sample size was chosen as follows:

"A sample size of 40 per group was chosen to provide 90% power to detect a 60-second difference in mean change in exercise time from the baseline to the 27-week follow-up."

So the study was designed to detect a 60-second improvement in treadmill exercise time in a statistically significant way.

Again from the paper, "The 500-ml. infusion solution of 5% dextrose in water...Each treatment solution also contained 750 mg of magnesium sulfate, 5 g of ascorbic acid and 5 g of sodium bicarbonate. Vitamin C and magnesium were given to both groups.

According to their own paper, and I quote, "Both study groups were able to significantly (P < .001) increase their exercise time to isehemia at the 27-week treadmill test."

Thus, using vitamin C in the placebo obscured the statistically significant increase in treadmill exercise time -- in both groups, including the EDTA group. Sadly, the conclusions overlook this statistically significant benefit as a "placebo effect." (Unlikely, based on a meta-review of other Time to Ischemia treadmill studies in MEDLINE. See references.) While I agree with Hoffer, and do not agree with medicine, that therapies and interventions are proven" by a double-blind placebo controlled trial, if one accepts the generally accepted medical terminology, this trial then "proves" the significant value of vitamin C in heart patients.

As alternative doctors know, "spontaneous remission" usually means that the patient did not tell his or her doctor about the supplements that he or she was taking. We now know that 5 g of vitamin C is quite a "placebo" for ischemic heart disease. (Several drugs evaluated in a similar manner showed no increase in Time to Ischemia.) Based on the JAMA study, which had little to say about the value of EDTA for CVD (did the magnesium bind to the EDTA, inactivating it?) and nothing to say about the long-term benefits of EDTA, it appears ACAM (chelation) doctors now have a moral obligation to add vitamin C to their EDTA (if not doing so already) based on this "proven" result for the unified theory.

Not all ischemia is calcium-based. If one is going to receive the contents of an IV bag for three hours, one ought to want EDTA as well as ascorbate for its known detoxification benefits. The air we breathe contains lead. Our teeth are full of mercury. Our foods and water contain aluminum and other metal and heavy metal toxins. No doubt, EDTA (IV or oral) is a good idea, but it is an even better idea when combined with supplements, especially vitamin C. (Now if we can only get Knudtson, et al. to add 5 g of lysine to the IV in their next study.)

For more information, or to contribute to the Vitamin C Foundation's sponsored clinical trial, please contact:

Owen Fonorow[C]

. Box 73172 Houston, Texas 77273

USA

888-443-3634

630-416-1438

Fax 630-416-1309

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Time to Ischemia References

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(2.) Natural progesterone, but not medroxyprogesterone acetate, enhances the beneficial effect of estrogen on exercise-induced myocardial ischcmia in postmenopausal women. Rosano GM, Webb CM, Chierchia S, Morgani GL, Gabracle M. Sarrel PM, do Ziegler D, Collins P, Department or Cardiology, Ospedele San Raffacle, Rome, Italy.

(3.) Am Heart J 2002 Jul;144(1):50-7. Randomized comparison or T-type versus L-type calcium channel blockade on exercise duration in stable angina: results of the Posicor Reduction of Ischemia During Exorcise (PRIDE) trial, Lee OS. Goodman S, Dean DM, Lens J, Ma P, Gervais PB, Langer A; PRIDE Investigators. St Michael's Hospital, University or Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

(4.) Indian Heart J 2002 Mar-Apr; 54(2):170-5, Bharani A, Ganguli A, Mathur LK. Jamra Y. Raman PC, Department or Medicine, MGM Medical College and MY Hospital, Indore, MP. .net Nowak Z, Petelenz T, Wos S, Lowcznyski S. Katedry Rehabilitacji Ruchowej Akademii Wychowania Fizyoznego w Katowicach.

(5.) Am J Cordiol 2002 Apr 1, 89(7):822-4. Effects or enhanced external counterpulsation on stress radionuclide coronary perfusion and exercise capacity in chronic stable angina pectoris. Stys TP, Lawson WE, Hui JC, Fleishman B, Manzo K, Strobeck JE, Tartaglia J, Ramasamy S, Suwita R, Zheng ZS. Liang H, Werner D. State University or New York at Stony Brook, New York 11794, US.

(6.) Vasc Med 2001;6(3):l51-5. Effects of cilostazol on resting ankle pressures and exercise-induced ischemia in patients with intermittent claudication. Mahler ER 3rd, Beebe HG, SallesCuhna S, Zimet R, Zhang P, Heckman J, Forbes WP. University or Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104, USA. .edu

(7.) Randomized trial of medical rood for the dietary management of chronic, stable angina. Maxwell AJ, Zapien MP, Pearce GL, Maccallum G, Stone PH. Division of Research and Development, Cooke Pharma, Inc., Belmont, California, USA. .

(8.) J Cardiovasc Pharmocal 2001 Sep;35(3)358-84, A randomized, double-blind comparison of the efficacy and tolerability of once-daily modified-release diltiazem capsules with once-daily amlodipine tablets in patients with stable angina. Chugh BK, Digpal K, Hutchinson T, McDonald CJ, Miller Ad, Lahiri A. Department of Cardiac Research, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK

(9.) Ter Arkn 2001;73(1):38-41, Comparison of carveditol and atenolol efficacy in patients with stable effort angina, Martsevich Slu, Koniakhina IP, Aiimova KV, Kutishenko NP, Lerman OV.