Townsend Letter: B6 reduced heart attacks by 70%

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Enough vitamin B6 reduces heart attacks by

70%.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)

 

 

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients; 8/1/2004;

Hattersley, Joseph G.

 

 

Search for more information on HighBeam Research for

vrp.com p5p vitamin b6.

 

Editor:

 

My 1995 article " Vitamin B6: The Overlooked Key to

Preventing Heart Attacks, " in the peer reviewed

Journal of Applied Nutrition (1) elaborates

mechanisms, including inflammation and thrombosis

(catastrophic clotting) that are gaining increased

recognition as factors in coronary heart disease. This

article also integrates the effects of vitamin B6

deficiency with its success in lowering insulin along

with Type 2 ( " adult onset " ) diabetes. (2-5) Matthias

Rath, MD and double-Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, PhD

blame heart attacks on deficient vitamin C and excess

Lipoprotein (a). (6,8)

 

Mainline medicine ignores my paper. Yet in the ensuing

eight years no one has refuted any error therein,

stated Kilmer S. McCully, MD, in an email, November

2002. Dr. McCully originated the homocysteine

explanation of atherosclerosis. My paper partly

explains the following results:

 

1. Over the years 1962-1992, thousands of people in

East Texas took 50-300 milligrams of B6 daily under

the guidance of John Marion Ellis, MD, of Mt.

Pleasant, Texas. He proposed no change in the lives of

patients suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome with

tenosynovitis, a form of degenerative arthritis (those

symptoms, together, accurately warn of high cardiac

risk). No need to exercise, stop smoking, modify diet;

only " Take vitamin B6. " Yet a careful retrospective

study covering more than ten years found Dr. Ellis'

patients had 73% fewer chest pains and heart attacks

than thousands of abstainers in the same area, lived

seven to 17 years longer, and felt better. (9,10)

 

Dr. Ellis' thousands of patients, and tens of

thousands referred to cardiologist/internist Moses M.

Suzman, MD (see below), treated with B6 from

1950-1990--never complained of over-publicized

neurological side effects. A few people may be

sensitive to this vitamin as pyridoxine hydrochloride

(PnHCl), its common supplemented form, (11) and an

excess of this may lower bioavailability. (12) Russell

Jaffe, MD, PhD, eliminated such nervous-system side

effects among thousands of volunteers by using

pharmaceutical grade PnHCl, 200 to 2,000 milligrams

daily for up to two years. (13,14) The product is

available from VRP 1-800-877-2447; 1-702-884-1300

www.vrp.com, and possibly from others. That firm also

supplies pyridoxal-5-phosphate, P5P, the active form

of B6 in the body, of which about one-tenth the

quantity suffices. (15)

 

2. Among a sample of women followed for 20 years in

the prospective Nurses' Health Study, after adjustment

for other risk factors heart attack risk dropped 17%

for each two-milligram increase in daily B6

consumption in both diet and supplements. Higher

intakes lowered cardiac risk; (16) an increase of

eight milligrams would then lower risk by 68%.

 

3. In the 10-year ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in

Communities) study, the people in the highest quintile

of plasma vitamin B6 had 72% fewer heart attacks than

those in the lowest quintile of plasma B6. As in Dr.

Ellis' experience, for non-cardiac patients nothing

but B6 made any difference in cardiac risk--not even

the now-famous homocysteine. (17) Moses M. Suzman, MD,

of Johannesburg, South Africa, earlier confirmed that

finding over a period of 40 years (18,19) but did not

publish the results.

 

A bit of background. In 1949, pathologists James F.

Rinehart and Louis D. Greenberg in San Francisco fed

young, mostly herbivorous rhesus monkeys synthetic

high-protein Western-style diets deficient in single

vitamins. After six months to four years, each monkey

given a diet somewhat lacking in vitamin B6--but

critically, not devoid of it (20,21)--had fibrous and

fibrocalcific arterial plaques similar to those seen

in most human autopsies. Monkeys given extra B6 showed

no arterial damage. (22) Suzman had already suspected

a " pandemic " deficiency of B6 in Western cultures as

the prime cause of heart attacks, and supplements of

it as the key to avoiding and curing heart disease.

 

So, after those tests with B6-deficient monkeys, he

advised all the non-cardiac patients referred to him

to take 100 milligrams daily for the rest of their

lives. Over 44 years, these tens of thousands had " far

fewer cardiac problems than would have been expected " ;

and they enjoyed improved general health as well.

(23,24) Dr. Suzman declared he could not recall a

patient of his who had a coronary spasm or cardiac

arrest, or even a stroke among stressed hypertensives.

Heart patients ingested 200 milligrams of B6 daily,

half in a B-complex, other supplements and a

semivegetarian diet. They used a heart drug for a few

weeks to a few months.

 

The Codex-supported RDA of vitamin B6 is only about

two milligrams! How many millions will suffer and die

of preventable heart attacks if that Codex limitation

is enforced?

 

The best food sources of vitamin B6 include bananas

and raw calfliver. Two daily 50-milligram tablets are

more practical than choking down 196 bananas, or 18.6

pounds of raw calf liver; or 120 cups of brown rice or

2,000 tomatoes every day. (25)

 

The evidence for vitamin B6's critical role perfectly

matches the requirements for proof of causation

published by Sir Richard Doll. (Doll, Sir Richard.

Proof of causality. Deduction from epidemiological

observation. Perspectives Biol Med 2002; 45; 4:

499-515). (26) From 1950 to 1965 while numbers of

heart attacks ballooned, arterial damage did not

increase; only clotting and inflammation increased.

(Thomas W et al. Incidence of myocardial infarction

correlated with venous and pulmonary thrombosis and

embolism. Amer Jour Cardiology; 1960:41-47). (27)

(Nieper, Hans, MD. Mineral transporters, New Dynamics

of Preventive Medicine, 1974). (28) Both of these

accompany every infection. (29) Stress, smoking,

alcohol, caffeine--all promote clotting; enough B6

resists clot formation. (30)

 

A very large but unknown number of heart attacks

appear to result from infection. Researchers found the

infectious organism Chlamydia pneumoniae in the

coronary arteries of more than 90% of a large group of

cardiac patients. (31) Dangerous forms of Helicobacter

pylori and others, which can derive from allergies,

(32) from tainted foods, and from the cavitations

(holes in bone) that lurk under dentistinstalled root

canals, (33-35) also show up there.

Endotoxins--poisons emitted by some periodontal (gum)

disease bacteria--can also enter the bloodstream via

the mouth. (36) A 1997 study of 1,372 Native Americans

found that the risk of heart attack was 2.7 times

higher in individuals with periodontal gum disease

than in those with healthy gums. (37,38) A more

recently discovered virus, now blamed for many colds,

(39) may have caused at least one heart attack. (40)

 

Excessive sugar intake is now cogently supported as

the number one risk factor for heart attacks in women,

and number two for men; excessive animal fat intake is

number two for women, and number one for men. (41)

Emanuel Cheraskin and associates found just one

teaspoon of sugar doesn't only " help the medicine go

down " ; more important, it reduces the number of germs

destroyed by white blood cells by 50% immediately, and

normal germdestroying capability doesn't return for

five hours. (42) Millions of Americans consume an

average of two or more teaspoons of sugars of all

kinds, every hour every day, and thus keep their

immunity constantly low.

 

It's worth noting that an 8-ounce glass of orange

juice delivers to the body 8 tsp. of sugar as

fructose, which is just as harmful as sucrose. (43-45)

 

 

A large but generally ignored body of research shows

that vitamin B6 possesses important infection-fighting

capability. (46-51) Further, a systemic inflammatory

condition explains many heart attacks in clean

arteries (52); antioxidant vitamins appear to

ameliorate these through stimulating increased

generation of nitric oxide (NO). (53) (Louis J.

Ignarro, MD, Nobel Laureate 1998 for his discovery of

functions of nitric oxide in the body. Interview in

Bland JS, Funct Med Update 2002; Sept.)

 

Supplemented vitamin B6 also shows potential benefits

in helping avoid cancer. Few of Dr. Ellis' smoking

patients developed lung cancer (54); taken for

decades, B6 protected them against lung cancer. It has

shown anti-cancer promise in tests with animals (55)

and in test tube trials. (56)

 

What is so special about vitamin B6? Not only is

deficiency of the vitamin pandemic; studies have found

that people consuming Western diets are more deficient

in B6 than in other vitamins. (57) Fats, which

constitute 30 to 40% of total calories, do not contain

any water-soluble B vitamins. Foods grown on soils

fertilized for decades principally with three

nutrients (NPK)--even if now cultivated

" organically " --are low in needed micronutrients

including B6. And because it is fragile, most of what

remains is lost in food processing, storage, transport

and cooking.

 

Heavy consumption of sugar is doubly dangerous, for it

depletes B6 from the body. (58) The air we inhale, our

food and medicines are full of substances that destroy

B6 inside our bodies and increase our need for it.

" Stress, which acts to further deplete the vitamin,

(59) is high and rising not only in the workplace and

domestic life but also notably from myriad growing

sources of electromagnetic radiations, " wrote Dr.

Robert Becker. (61)

 

Textbooks of nutrition list a very large number of

benefits, but they omit one of the most

important--B6's protection against heart attack is

utterly mysterious unless--contrary to usual

biochemical theory--it is an antioxidant, i.e. removes

an O2 atom. A.L. Witting in America, (62) Fumio Kuzuya

(who worked with Rinehart and Greenberg after 1949)

and M. Nabu (63-65) in Japan, a pair of researchers in

China, (66) and two in India (67-69) found that B6

does act as an antioxidant.

 

But why does vitamin B6 lower heart-attack risk so

much more than any other one or any combination of

other antioxidants? Antioxidant vitamin C, for one,

does decrease infection. But ascorbic acid promoted

cancer development in mice; (70) for human use lysine

is used with vitamin C to prevent cancer. (71-72) The

answer appears to derive (a) from B6's

infection-protection against sugarladen diets; (b)

Also in some way from its being a " different kind " of

antioxidant, as Kilmer S. McCully, MD and Willem J.

Serfontein, DSc (74) show that it is.

 

[iLLUSTRATION OMITTED]

 

References:

 

1. Hattersley JG. Vitamin B6: The overlooked key to

preventing heart attacks. Jour Applied Nutr 1995;

47:24-31.

 

2. Ellis John M et al. A deficiency of vitamin B6 is a

plausible molecular basis of the retinopathy of

patients with diabetes mellitus. Biochem Biophys Res

Comm 1991; 179:615-619.

 

3. Ellis, John Marion, MD and Jean Pamplin. Vitamin B6

Therapy. Garden City Park, NY: Avery, 1999.

 

4. Lewis GF, Zinman B et al. Hepatic glucose

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5. Lipton, B, Lectures, 1994.

 

6. Rath M, Pauling L. Hypothesis: Lipoprotein(a) is a

surrogate for ascorbate. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 1990;

87:6204-6207.

 

7. Rath M, Pauling L. Solution to the puzzle of human

cardiovascular disease: Its primary cause is ascorbate

deficiency leading to the deposition of lipoprotein(a)

and fibrinogen/fibrin in the vascular wall. J

Orthomolecular Med 1991; 6:125-134.

 

8. Scanu AM, Fless GM. Lipoprotein(a). Heterogeneity

and biological relevance. Jour Clin Investigation

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9. Ellis JM, McCully KS. Prevention of myocardial

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12. Rudman D, Williams PJ. Megadose vitamins: Use or

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13. Jaffe R. Lecture to Well Mind Association,

Seattle, 1990.

 

14. Hattersley JG. Pharmaceutical grade pyridoxine has

no side effects. Townsend Ltr Doc/Patients 1997; May:

109.

 

15. Pfeiffer CC, Sohler A, Jenney CH, Bliev V.

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16. Rimm EB, Willett WC et al. Folate and vitamin B6

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17. Folsom AR, Nieto FJ, et al. Prospective study of

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18. Hattersley JG. Acquired atherosclerosis: Theories

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19. Suzman MM. Forty-seven telephone interviews

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22. Rinehart JF, Greenberg LD. Arteriosclerotic

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immunocompetence in the elderly. Ann NY Acad Sci

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26. Doll, Sir Richard. Proof of causality. Deduction

from epidemiological observation. Perspectives Biol

Med 2002; 45; 4: 499-515.

 

27. Thomas W et al. Incidence of myocardial infarction

correlated with venous and pulmonary thrombosis and

embolism. Amer Jour Cardiology; 1960:41-47.

 

28. Nieper, Hans, MD. Mineral transporters, New

Dynamics of Preventive Medicine, 1974.

 

29. Privitera James R, MD, Stang Alan, MA. Silent

Clots: Life's Biggest Killers. Covina, CA 91723: The

Catacombs Press, 1996 (818) 966-1518.

 

30. McCully Kilmer S, MD. The Homocysteine Revolution.

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38. Genco R et al. Periodontal disease and risk for

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43. Sakai M, et al. Experimental studies on the role

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44. Kizhner, T. et al. Long-term fructose intake:

biochemical consequences and altered renal history in

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45. Choi YK, et al. Fructose intolerance: an

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47. Baum MK, Mantero-Atienza E, Shor-Posner G et al.

Association of vitamin B6 status with parameters of

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etiology of heart disease. Op. cit.

 

53. Louis J. Ignarro, MD, Nobel Laureate 1998 for his

discovery of functions of nitric oxide in the body.

Interview in Bland JS, Funct Med Update 2002; Sept.

 

54. Ellis JM. Personal communication, 1993.

 

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of pyridoxal treatment in controlling the growth of

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receptor. Ann NY Acad Sci 1990; 585:438-451.

 

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58. Leklem JE, Hollenbeck CB. Acute ingestion of

glucose decreases plasma pyridoxal-5'-phosphate and

total vitamin B6 concentration. Amer J Clin Nutr 1990;

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59. McCully KS. Homocysteine theory. Development and

current status. Atherosclerosis Rev 1983; 11:157-246.

 

60. Hattersley JG. Preventing heart attacks, strokes

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61. Becker, Robert O, MD. Cross Currents: The Perils

of Electropollution. Los Angeles, CA: Tarcher, 1990.

 

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and riboflavin to the nutritional value of polymerized

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Vitamin News 1991; 6:1-7.

 

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analog as superoxide anion scavengers and

antioxidants. Biochem Pharmacol 1991; 42:1177-1179.

 

67. Ravichandran V, Selvam R. Lipid peroxidation in

sub-cellular fractions of liver and kidney of vitamin

B-6 deficient rats. Med Sci Res 1990; 18:369-371.

 

68. Ravichandran V, Selvam R. Increased lipid

peroxidation in kidney of vitamin B-6 deficient rats.

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Exp Biol 1991; 29:56-58.

 

70. Robinson, AB, Access to Energy 2003, May; 2004,

November. 1. Hattersley JG. Vitamin B6: The overlooked

key to preventing heart attacks. Jour Applied Nutr

1995; 47:24-31.

 

71. Rath M, Pauling L. Hypothesis: Lipoprotein(a) is a

surrogate for ascorbate. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 1990;

87:6204-6207.

 

72. Rath M, Pauling L. Solution to the puzzle of human

cardiovascular disease. Op. cit.

 

73. McCully KS. Personal communication, 1995.

 

74. Serfontein, Willem S., DSc, Interview near

Pretoria, South Africa, 1992.

 

Joseph G. Hattersley

 

JosephHattersley

 

COPYRIGHT 2004 The Townsend Letter Group

 

This material is published under license from the

publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills,

Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be

directed to the Gale Group.

 

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