OWEN R. FONOROW
P. O. Box 3097
Lisle, IL 60532-3097
1-800-894-9025
FAX: (630) 416-1309
fonorow@vitamincfoundation.org
1-630-416-1438
October 8, 1997
Editor
American Medical Association
515 N. State Street.
Chicago, IL 60120
Dear Editor:
Some have said that Linus Pauling, the Chemist, was soon over his head when he entered the field of nutrition and began studying vitamin C some thirty years ago. Yet, almost a decade ago, Pauling correctly identified lipoprotein(a), then a needle in the haystack, as the single most important risk factor in human cardiovascular disease. Today, a MEDLINE search for lipoprotein(a), since Pauling's death to the present, returns 986 records.
By now, most scientists studying Lp(a) know of the Lysine Binding Site (LBS) that causes Lp(a) to form plaque over lesions. Even with all this research, it is still little known that in 1992 Linus Pauling, the Chemist, invented a way to neutralize lipoprotein(a) in human beings. Pauling's invention, backed by U. S. patent, was that increasing the dietary intake of lysine, an essential amino acid that is required for life, along with vitamin C, will inhibit Lp(a) binding to the arterial wall. According to Linus Pauling:
"You need lysine to be alive, it is essential, but you can take lysine, pure lysine, a perfectly non toxic substance in food [as supplements], and that puts extra lysine molecules in the blood. They enter into competition with the lysyl residues on the walls of arteries and accordingly count to prevent Lp(a) from being deposited or even will work to pull it loose and destroy atherosclerotic plaques."
While most of today's medical scientists are ignorant of this recommendation, judging from the lack of attention given to it in the Lp(a) literature, it has been my experience with a small sample of terminally ill patients (sample size less than 50) that the "Pauling Cure" is 100% effective in reversing the disease.
The rationale and prior research that lead to this "cure" is available in Pauling/Rath United States patent 5,278,189 (Jan 11, 1984) PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF OCCLUSIVE CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE WITH ASCORBATE AND SUBSTANCES THAT INHIBIT THE BINDING OF LIPOPROTEIN(a).
It will be tempting for scientists to accept ½ the Pauling/Rath theory. But reversing plaque without correcting the underlying lesion will cause fatalities. The Pauling recommendation to vastly increase ascorbic acid along with lysine is absolutely warranted and must be followed. Vitamin C apparently heals the arteries, stops further atherosclerosis and enhances the anti-plaque properties of lysine.
The "Pauling Cure" answers the question whether "medical practice should be to measure Lp(a)." As the effectiveness of this simple therapy becomes apparent clinically, better knowledge will be achieved as to how much lysine and ascorbates to prescribe in relation to Lp(a) blood serum levels. The universally positive anecdotal results warrant serious scientific investigation and creates an obligation for your publication to investigate, and if you find this to be empirically valid, to inform your readers.
Yours truly,
Owen Fonorow
President
The Vitamin C Foundation
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