Rebuttals to the AHA Attack on Vitamin C
From the Linus Pauling Institute, The Vitamin C Foundation, and Dr. Robert
Cathcart.
Rebuttal from the Linus Pauling Institute
Study links vitamin C pills with faster clogging of the arteries? Another
unconfirmed study causing unnecessary confusion and fear among the public.
A study reported on March 2, 2000, by Dr. James Dwyer at an American Heart
Association meeting in San Diego allegedly raised the possibility that taking
vitamin C supplements may speed up clogging of the arteries, or atherosclerosis.
Although the researchers themselves called their findings a surprise and
cautioned that more experiments are needed to investigate whether vitamin C
supplements may be harmful, the study was released to the media without
discussing its limitations nor putting it in the proper context of the hundreds
of existing studies demonstrating the health benefits of vitamin C. Both the
researchers and the American Heart Association acted irresponsibly by releasing
this unconfirmed study without appropriate background information, causing
unnecessary confusion and fear among the public.
Dr. Dwyer reported that subjects taking 500 milligrams of vitamin C daily for at
least a year had a 2.5 times greater rate of thickening of the carotid artery
wall than did subjects who did not take supplements. These results are in direct
conflict with a study published in 1995 in the American Heart Association
journal Circulation, which found a significant reduction in carotid artery wall
thickness in people over 55 years old who consumed amounts of vitamin C greater
than 982 mg per day compared to those consuming less than 88 mg per day.
If the results by Dwyer and colleagues were true, people who take vitamin C
supplements should die of heart attacks and strokes at a much greater rate than
non-supplement users. However, there is no scientific evidence in support of
this notion. Many epidemiological studies and some clinical trials have
indicated that dietary intake of or supplementation with vitamin C is associated
with a reduction in the incidence of chronic disease morbidity and mortality,
including cardiovascular diseases. Numerous epidemiological studies have shown a
significantly decreased heart attack or stroke risk with increased vitamin C
intake.
A large epidemiological study published in 1992 showed a risk reduction for
heart disease of 45% in men and 25% in women consuming greater than 50 mg of
vitamin C daily from the diet plus regular supplements, corresponding to a total
vitamin C intake of about 300 mg per day. Although this study indicated that
vitamin C supplements provide cardiovascular benefits above and beyond the
vitamin C obtained from the diet, two other large epidemiological studies
published in 1996 found no effect on heart disease risk in people who take
regular vitamin C supplements. However, not a single epidemiological study nor
clinical trial has found an increased risk of heart attacks or strokes in people
taking vitamin C supplements.
Over twenty clinical studies since 1996 published primarily in Circulation have
consistently found beneficial effects of vitamin C, administered either orally
or by intra-arterial infusion, on the relaxation of arteries, or vasodilation.
Impaired vasodilation is an important risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.
Vasodilation in patients with heart disease is significantly improved following
supplementation with 500 mg of vitamin C per day for 30 days, and is comparable
to vasodilation seen in healthy people. Beneficial effects of vitamin C
supplements leading to normalization of vasodilation were also observed in
patients with angina, heart failure, high cholesterol levels, hypertension,
diabetes, high homocysteine levels and in smokers. In addition, a recent study
in Lancet has demonstrated that 500 mg of vitamin C per day given for 30 days
lowers blood pressure in moderately hypertensive patients. High blood pressure
is a major risk factor for heart disease.
Several limitations of the study reported by Dwyer and colleagues need to be
pointed out. First, this was an oral presentation of an abstract, meaning that
the study has not been published in the scientific literature after undergoing
rigorous peer review. The measurement of carotid artery wall thickness by
ultrasound poses significant technical problems and is notoriously difficult.
The differences observed are exceedingly small, and control measurements and
strict blinding of the researchers evaluating the data are pivotal. Second,
because this is an epidemiological study, the observed associations between
vitamin C intake and carotid atherosclerosis do not prove cause-effect
relationships, and may reflect differences in diet or lifestyle. There also can
be significant confounding by unmeasured risk factors or imperfect statistical
adjustments of the data. The vitamin C intakes were estimated, but no actual
measurements of vitamin C in the blood of the subjects were made. Third, it is
known that in healthy people cells and tissues are
saturated at an intake of 100 to 200 mg of vitamin C per day. Therefore, it is
difficult to rationalize any effects of vitamin C above these intake levels, as
tissue levels would not be altered.
People taking vitamin C supplements should continue to do so, as the known
health benefits of vitamin C far outweigh alleged, unconfirmed risks. There is
no scientific evidence that vitamin C supplements increase the risk of heart
attacks or strokes. Vitamin C supplements of 500 mg per day have been shown to
normalize vasodilation and lower blood pressure, two major cardiovascular risk
factors.
Rebuttal
to the American Heart Association report by Dr. Cathcart:
The recent story linking vitamin C "pills" with
"clogging" of the arteries.
We have been in contact with Professor James Dwyer of the USC Medical School,
one of the principal researchers. As expected, this research seems to be good
news for elderly vitamin C takers whose carotid arteries have thinned with
age. There is no evidence of occlusion (or clogging), contrary to the media
reports.
Here is what we have confirmed with Dr. Dwyer:
- There is no paper as we suspected. (The USC team's paper is in peer
review and not available.)
- The USC team used a new B-mode imaging technique which is still
undergoing clinical trial for accuracy at the NIH.
- This B-mode imaging technique has three indicators. The USC team only studied
one; carotid arterial thickening or IMT. (Dr. Dwyer tells us there
will be no reference in their paper to the other two occlusion indicators;
plaque index and velocity ratio.)
- According to correspondence, Dr. Dwyer and the USC team is unaware that
arteries might get thicker with increased vitamin C intake, and that this is
entirely predicted by theory. (Increased vitamin C stimulates collagen
production, but this is not well taught or well known in medical school.)
- Last year, the same USC research team (Dwyers, et. al) wrote a paper with the
opposite findings. Last year they found that stress (some would say a vitamin C
deficiency) leads to early atherosclerosis in men (March 1999).
Bottom line: There is no evidence of occlusion, only thickening. Now we need
your help repairing the damage caused by the premature release of this
unpublished research. Millions of people are now afraid of vitamin C. Please
help spread the word. We will post more information as it becomes available at: www.vitaminCfoundation.org.
My experience with 25,000 patients since 1969 indicates that this charge is
ridiculous. I know that follow-up is not perfect in private practice but I have
had no patient who had a good heart when I first saw them and who took massive
doses of C who ever developed heart problems. I have to add that I advise all my
patients to avoid sugar, chemicals and highly process foods, and put them on a
number of other nutrients.
If it turns out that there is thickening of the carotid, I think it is reversing
the thinning that occurs with aging. It is interesting that the effect is so
dramatic in the reversing of the effect on smokers. I have to congratulate you
at the Vitamin C Foundation on unveiling the other two findings that could have
been measured which were not reported.
Probably the finding that C helped would not be publishable.
Dr. Cathcart is a leading expert on treating people with high doses of vitamin
C.
Rebuttal by The Vitamin C Foundation
Here is some technical information on the B-mode imaging process.
Note there are three measures, yet the USC paper will only mentions one. The
missing two measures are used to infer occlusion.
Detailed B-mode images of the right and left common carotid artery, common
carotid bifurcation, and the first centimeter of the internal carotid artery are
obtained. Selected images are digitized for later measurement of intima-media
thickness. After imaging, the sonographer obtains pulsed wave Doppler measures
of blood flow velocity at the mid common (2 cm proximal to the carotid bulb) and
in the internal carotid artery at the point of highest velocity distal to the
flow divider. These are used to calculate the degree to which plaque may be
interfering with blood flow.
The scanning and reading protocols result in three
primary carotid disease measures:
- Average wall intima-media thickness
- A measure of degree of focal plaque called the plaque index
- The velocity ratio, a determination of whether or not plaque is interfering
with blood flow in the internal carotid artery
Again, the USC team's report will only concern arterial thickness. The
occlusion indicators are not reported for reasons unknown.
Owen R. Fonorow
The Vitamin C Foundation
www.vitaminCfoundation.org