Vitamin C’s concentration in the body is directly related to the protein collagen, which determines the stability of tissues. In vitamin C deficiency, connective tissue dissolves and the body literally breaks apart. Though gross vitamin C deficiency is essentially unknown, chronic dietary vitamin C deficiency is widespread. With insufficient vitamin C (1.) there is a decrease in the stability and elasticity of the blood vessel wall, (2.) a loss of cellular barrier between the bloodstream and the vessel wall, (3.) increased infiltration and massive deposition of blood constituents in the vessel wall, (4). development of atherosclerosis, especially in sites of high pressure and where turbulence prevails, (5.) there is a narrowing of the vessel diameter and a decrease of blood circulation, and (6.) a heart attack or stroke may occur. The deposition of fatty transporting particles, clotting factors, and other risk factors in the arteries is a defensive reaction by the body. The arterial wall has become fragile from vitamin C deficiency. a vitamin which is needed for repair from the inside. Under conditions of vitamin C deficiency over decades, this defensive reaction tragically becomes part of the disease process itself. This eventually results in atherosclerosis. Heart disease is an early stage of scurvy, a chronic vitamin C deficiency of body tissue. The development of atherosclerosis is the direct consequence of this deficiency. Now it is understood why heart attacks are virtually unknown in the animal world. It is the same reason why the ships’ cats in the pioneering years of sailing did not get scurvy, while human beings aboard died of scurvy. The fact is that the animals survived because they produced vitamin C in their bodies. This Newsletter concludes that human atherosclerosis is caused by the instability of the vessel wall, as a consequence of vitamin C deficiency. Pauling believes that high cholesterol or other risk factors in the blood are a risk for heart disease, only if the walls of the artery are weakened by vitamin C deficiency.
