Dr. Matthias Rath (left) with the late two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling
On July 2, 1992, for the first time ever, the possibility of eradicating heart disease from mankind was publicly announced. In his last public appeal, the two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling supported Dr. Rath’s scientific breakthrough in heart disease research.
Call for an International Effort to Abolish Heart Disease
Heart disease, stroke and other forms of cardiovascular disease now kill millions of people every year and cause millions more to be disabled. There now exists the opportunity to reduce greatly this toll of death and disability by the optimum dietary supplementation with vitamins and other essential nutrients.
During recent years, we and our associates have made two remarkable discoveries. One is that the primary cause of heart disease is the insufficient intake of ascorbate (vitamin C), an insufficiency from which nearly every person on earth suffers.
Ascorbate deficiency leads to weakness of the walls of the arteries and the initiation of the atherosclerotic process, particularly in stressed regions. We conclude that cholesterol and other blood risk factors increase the risk for heart disease only if the wall of the artery is weakened by ascorbate deficiency.
The other discovery is that the main cholesterol-transporting particle forming atherosclerotic plaques is not LDL (low-density lipoprotein) but a related lipoprotein, lipoprotein (a). Moreover, certain essential nutrients, especially the amino acid L-lysine, can block the deposition of this lipoprotein and may even reduce existing plaques. We have concluded that the optimum supplementation of ascorbate and some other nutrients could largely prevent heart disease and stroke and be effective in treating existing disease. Published clinical and epidemiological data support this conclusion.
The goal is now in sight: the abolition of heart disease as the cause of disability and mortality for the present generation and future generations of human beings.
WITH MILLIONS OF LIVES EACH YEAR AT STAKE, NO TIME SHOULD BE LOST!
- We call upon our colleagues in science and medicine to join in a vigorous international effort, on the levels of both basic research and clinical studies, to investigate the value of vitamin C and other nutrients in controlling heart disease
- We call upon national and international health authorities and other health institutions to support this effort with political and financial measures.
- We call upon every human being to encourage local medical institutions and physicians to take an active part in this process.
THE GOAL OF ELIMINATING HEART DISEASE AS THE MAJOR CAUSE OF DEATH AND DISABILITY IS NOW IN SIGHT!
Matthias Rath and Linus Pauling
San Francisco, California, July 1992
