Post
by ofonorow » Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:49 am
If the Foundation ever decides to apply for another grant from the NIH, I really think they should aim towards establishing whether vitamin C lowers Lp(a), and the optimal dosage for this.
This echos the sentiment of Warren Levin, and others. but I wouldn't expect it to, at least in the short term. (There is already established research that was cited by the cholesterol lab Atherotech many years ago that showed both vitamin C and Niacin are known to lower Lp(a) 30%.)
It has been repeatedly shown in guinea pigs that you can prevent apo(a) (Lp(a)) from increasing by keeping vitamin C adequate, and that Lp(a) will rise when vitamin C is deficient in these animals. However, I do not believe I have seen a study in guinea pigs that show that Lp(a) will diminish after it has been elevated. (Now the Reversibility paper by Willis from the 50s implies that Lp(a) was probably lowered, but again, we don't know much about that particular effect.) Anecdotally, my old friend, the medical school professor from New York saw his Lp(a) drop 30% in 3 months on vitamin C and lysine. It only went to zero after adding proline, but he waited 14 months for that measurement.
So Lp(a) would definitely be among the objective measures, but I would hate to call the study a "failure" if we ever get a shot merely because Lp(a) wasn't lowered.
Owen R. Fonorow
HeartCURE.Info
American Scientist's Invention Could Prevent 350,000 Heart Bypass Operations a year