The main benefit of vitamin C is support of the endothelial structure. Is this being overlooked, drowned out by the hype? Let's say I undertake a plaque reduction program. I get fit, eat right, increase NO, reduce levels and mobilize existing plaque. When "a piece" of plaque peels off, without ascorbate to fill the gap we've simply created a landing place for the next lp(a) particle to come along.
Is there dispute about the claim that blood vessels use lp(a) when ascorbate is not available? This is Pauling's discovery and seems to be accepted. What is challenged are the so-called magical powers of Vitamin C. However, logically, if insufficient vitamin C is bad, it follows that sufficient vitamin C should be good. Not a miracle, not magic, just a fundamental building block as necessary for health as so many other things we freely and willingly consume.
Pauling is the only person to win Nobel prizes in two different fields (chemistry, peace) and was in full possession of his considerable mental powers when the vascular research was performed. Yet in this endeavor he's seen as a quack, a dreamer searching for eternal life. As such, his assertions were never fully studied.
In the Knowledge Of Health article linked above, the author states lp(a) blood levels are no more important than cholesterol blood levels. Instead, what matters are the conditions allowing, or preventing, deposition. Here's a snippet from the article:
"That supplemental vitamin C doesn’t reduce circulating Lp(a) is irrelevant. Nor can any natural Lp(a)-lowering agent (niacin, L-carnitine, apple pectin, or vitamin D3) replace vitamin C. Only supplemental vitamin C interrupts Lp(a) deposition within the inner-artery wall. Virtually any amount of circulating Lp(a) can result in intra-arterial deposition, just higher Lp(a) levels would hasten the onset of an undesirable cardiovascular event (heart attack or stroke) at an earlier point in time."
If there is any truth here at all, then one can only conclude that vitamin C, indeed the Pauling-Rath protocol, should be a part of any plaque control program.
Edit: here is the original research by Pauling and Rath
http://m.pnas.org/content/87/23/9388.fu ... me=sidebar