Houston - The Houston-based Vitamin C Foundation has submitted its application for a grant to study a therapy for heart disease that was recommended by twice Nobel prize laureate Linus Pauling in 1994. The submission to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), is the Foundation's second request to formally study high-dose vitamin C, the first submitted to the Bush administration. If granted, the study will be the first-ever clinical trial of Pauling's suggested 6 g vitamin C and 6 g lysine oral intervention for cardiovascular disease.
In 1994, Linus Pauling and Matthias Rath were the first scientists to recommend the importance of lowering lipoprotein(a) or Lp(a). Lp(a) is a known cardiovascular risk factor and today there is a 70% greater risk of heart attack or stroke in people with high Lp(a). Research, so far, has shown that no intervention lowers Lp(a) by more than 30%. Michael Badanek, D.C., of Silver Springs, FL, approached the Foundation upon observing that elevated Lp(a) was lowered by more than 30% in his patients on the Pauling protocol. Dr. Badanek has already secured volunteers from his local church in Florida to be study subjects.
The Pauling/Rath theory considers Lp(a) to be an evolutionary surrogate for chronically low levels of ascorbate (vitamin C) in humans. The Vitamin C Foundation has received anecdotal reports, including results of lab tests, that show that Lp(a) is lowered by more than 40% within six months in those following the Pauling protocol. In one recent case, a biochemist, Robert Feminella, of New Hyde Park, NY, reports that after making but one change in his diet - adding 2 g lysine and 500 mg proline - his measured Lp(a) declined 40% in six months and reached zero within 18-months..
The Foundation and its investigators cannot deprive patients of vitamin C for a lengthy period and therefore the pilot will not be a placebo-controlled double-blind trial. Instead, the design will monitor Lp(a) and other assessments for all study participants during a two-month baseline period without any intervention. These two months will act as the control on which to base the statistical analysis.
The Foundation has asked the NIH/NCCAM to fund an 18 month pilot study of 30-40 subjects. More than 100 persons in Silver Springs, Florida, have already volunteered to participate. The Vitamin C Foundation has offices in Houston, TX, and Lisle, IL.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT Owen Fonorow 630-416-1438 M. S. Till, Sr. 281-443-3634 The Vitamin C Foundation Fax: 630-416-1309 OR VISIT THE WEBSITE: http://www.VitaminCFoundation/org/NCCAMgrant