Can Ascorbic Acid Cause Hardening of the Arteries?
It seems hardly likely that taking high doses of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) can cause thickening or hardening of the arteries since so many people have taken high doses for a long time. Yet researchers from the University of California reported just that on March 2, 2000. People who took 500 mgs of ascorbic acid had a 2.5 times faster progression of thickening of the carotid artery (hardening of the arteries) than people who took no supplement.
This study was not a clinical study where subjects are divided into those taking ascorbic acid and those taking a placebo. This was an epidemiological study which means patient records were examined and this finding popped up. There might well have been other confounding factors that would explain the artery-thickening finding.
Nonetheless, the researchers were surprised at the finding. And it seemed that the higher the dose of ascorbic acid, the worse the artery damage (the more they took, the faster the buildup). In fact, smokers taking 500 mgs of ascorbic acid had a rate of artery thickening five times greater than nonsmokers not taking the supplement. And while no one is sure what this all means, the researchers did come up with some common sense ideas about fractionated supplementation.
The director of the study astutely observed that "when you extract one component of food and give it at very high levels, you just don't know what you are doing to the system, and it may be adverse." Other researchers were quick to add that the research shows the uncertainties of picking out a single vitamin among the plethora of nutrients in a healthy diet. They added that it is a challenge to pick out nutrients that may make people live longer because if we are wrong, we can do harm.
Naturally this flies in the face of all the claims by all the synthetic vitamin manufacturers who state that vitamins can't hurt you, will never cause harm, are always beneficial, and will cure everything from a cold to cancer. The fact is that isolated, synthetic, or fractionated high-dose "vitamins" are unnatural and can cause harm to certain people. In the case of ascorbic acid, it is feasible that high doses may cause artery damage.
Log in to read the rest of this article addressing the related topics below:
- Can Synthetic Vitamins Also Cause Deficiencies
- Copper and Blood Vessels
- The New (Old) Blood Test for Heart Risk
- What Does C-reactive Protein Have To Do With It
