Program Spotlight – Cholesterol and Homocysteine Metabolism

The first thing that comes to our mind when we hear about heart disease is almost always cholesterol. For the last few decades cholesterol has been presented as the biggest enemy of our arteries, the heart, and health in general.

Is cholesterol truly the major risk factor for heart attacks and stroke?

Statistics show that despite widespread use of cholesterol-lowering drugs and a massive health campaign to eat less fat (WHO statistics, 2000), more than 16 million people around the globe die of cardiovascular disease and this disease is still number one killer in the industrialized world.

Conventional medicine targets high cholesterol levels as the main cause of heart disease. However, this concept does not explain many puzzling questions of cardiology.

If cholesterol causes heart disease, then:

• Why do 50% of heart attack victims have normal cholesterol levels?

• Why some people never have cardiovascular problems despite their high blood cholesterol levels?

• Why in some people the level of their blood cholesterol suddenly rises at some point in their lives?

• Why in about 95% of heart attacks cases, the blood vessel blockages occur in the area only about 10 inches long — in the heart arteries- and do not occur in the ear, elbow or any another part in the body? If cholesterol was the major cause of heart disease, blood vessel blockages and infarctions would occur throughout the entire blood vessel system, which is about 60,000 miles long.

• Why don't animals get heart attacks, even though, for instance, bears have cholesterol levels of 600 mg/dl?

• Why are heart disease risk factors, such as diabetes, high homocysteine levels, and lipid metabolism disorders, closely related to vitamin C deficiency?

Conventional medicine does not have answers to these important questions, but Dr. Rath’s Cellular Medicine™ DOES.

Dr. Rath’s Cellular Medicine explains that high blood cholesterol levels can lead to cardiovascular deposits and blockages only when there is a loss of the integrity and functional weakness of the blood vessel walls, which triggers the need for its biological “repair.” The loss of the integrity of the blood vessel wall is due to the chronic deficiency of specific cellular nutrients, especially vitamin C, and the amino acids lysine and proline that work in synergy with other nutrients.

Polar bears, for instance, which have an average blood cholesterol level around 600 mg/dl, do not die of heart attacks in massive numbers because they produce vitamin C, lysine, and proline in their bodies. This ensures the optimum production of collagen and the stability of their arteries and blood vessel walls. These and other essential nutrients protect their arterial walls and the heart, and because of this fact, bears are not candidates for taking cholesterol lowering drugs – and they never will be.

According to Dr. Rath’s discovery and research, cholesterol is actually the consequence of heart disease - not the primary cause.

The primary risk factor for heart disease and stroke is a weak and cellular nutrient starved arterial wall deficient in vitamin C, lysine, proline, and other essential nutrients that work in synergy. Like in scurvy, a chronic deficiency of these nutrients leads to the formation of millions of tiny cracks and lesions along the artery walls. The human body immediately wants to repair these crack and lesions, and if these nutrients are missing from the body, cholesterol becomes the only available “fixing” material for this task and is secreted in excess by the liver. The cholesterol is then carried through the body to the arterial cracks by lipoprotein molecules, such as LDL and lipoprotein(a) (a very sticky fat molecule). Dr. Rath identified lipoprotein(a) as ten times more dangerous a risk factor for heart disease that LDL. The pharmaceutical industry does not offer any medication for lowering this highly dangerous molecule and the risk factor for heart attacks and stroke.

Lipoprotein(a), cholesterol, and other fat molecules enter the damaged artery in order to repair the lesions. With chronic lack of vitamin C and the other nutrients this “repairing” process continues over decades. After many years, this repair overcompensates, or overshoots, and atherosclerotic deposits develop. They clog the arteries of the heart leading to heart attacks, and deposit in the arteries of the brain leading to stroke.

A clinical trial conducted for one year with patients who suffered from atherosclerosis and used Dr. Rath’s Cellular health program showed a significant decrease in the progression of calcified deposits during the first six months of the study. During the second six months of the study, the progression of calcified deposits was essentially stopped. As a result, no heart attack would occur. Without the use of Dr. Rath’s Cellular Health program, the coronary calcifications increased very fast, with an average growth of 44% every year. This landmark study was published in 1996, in the Journal of Applied Nutrition, and the details can be found in Dr. Rath’s book ,”Why Animals Don’t Get Heart Attacks, but People Do” and on www.cellularhealthtraining.org.

Another clinical study conducted for period of six months with Dr. Rath’s Cellular Health program showed a 22% decrease in triglyceride levels, a 14% decrease in LDL (bad cholesterol), a 13% decrease in lipoprotein(a), and an 8% increase in HDL (good cholesterol). Dr. Rath discovered, and has proven, that atherosclerotic plaques are the result of subclinical scurvy, and can be blocked or even reversed by natural means. This discovery opens up a new era in medicine.

Now it becomes clear that recently issued new guidelines for healthy cholesterol levels are nothing more than an expansion of the market for statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs that give many side effects, including cancer, and do not intend to eradicate heart attacks and stroke.

For as long as the cholesterol myth remains, it is important to protect and heal the body with the combination of clinically tested and proven Cellular Health nutrient program that includes vitamin C, amino acids lysine, proline, L-carnitine, vitamin B3, B6, B12, folic acid and other nutrients that work in synergy. This unique program and combination of nutrients have a dual action: they normalize blood cholesterol level, triglyceride, and homocysteine levels; and at the same time nourish and protect the arterial wall. There is no other program or pharmaceutical drug available on the market that addresses these health aspects in a safe and effective way like Dr. Rath’s Cellular Health program does.

Keep in mind that the key to normalizing cholesterol levels is healthy arteries nourished by specific cellular nutrients that work in synergy, and not cholesterol lowering drugs. The cellular nutrients taken in the right proportions and doses strengthen and stabilize the arteries and can prevent and even reverse atherosclerosis, and prevent heart attacks and strokes. Implementation of this outstanding discovery may lead in the future to elimination of cholesterol lowering drugs and application of natural, safe and effective approaches.

Dr. Rath’s Cholesterol and Homocysteine program is composed of two major formulas: Vitacor Plus and Metavicor. The complimentary formulas, such as ProLysinC, Dr. Rath’s VitaCForte and MacroBalance Drink can be added sequentially, generally one extra formula a month, and accordingly to the body needs.

For more information visit www.cellularhealthtraining.org.