Dr. Rath’s breakthrough discoveries have wide implications which include, among others, defining new biological targets in developing effective natural approaches to controlling viral and bacterial infections. They stress an importance of connective tissue stability and integrity in our understanding of how infectious diseases spread in the body, and how specific micronutrients can protect and stabilize this biological barrier which is important in hindering infections.

Cellular Medicine explains and proves that an optimum supply of specific micronutrients is critical in supporting various cellular functions that are essential for an effective immune response, a strong immune system and health. Micronutrients are needed for the thousands of biochemical reactions taking place in each cell of the body.  They play a critical role in affecting the ability of the infectious agent to invade our body cells and multiply and in the proper functioning of the immune system. A chronic lack of specific micronutrients in our body’s cells weakens the immune system and makes us prone to infections and immune deficiency diseases. This cause can be eliminated through simple, safe, and effective means - including optimum nutrition and specific micronutrient supplementation.

Example: Cellular Medicine in viral infections

The body’s basic protection against viral invaders (such as the common flu, herpes, HIV/AIDS and many other viruses) is secured by the white blood cells (“police cells”). If an infection occurs in the body, monocytes travel to the source of infection. To reach the site that has been invaded by a virus, these infection-fighting cells must be able to move through connective tissue. To do this, monocytes secrete collagen-digesting enzymes that temporarily dissolve the surrounding connective tissue and pave the way to reach viral invaders at the site of infection. This process is strictly controlled so that it does not lead to permanent tissue destruction.

A virus consists only of software (genetic information), therefore it cannot reproduce without using specific biological machinery present in every living cell for its own purpose. As soon as the virus has invaded the host cell, it incorporates its genetic information into the nucleus of the host and starts using it for its own growth and spread. The following two key steps occur in the virus infection process:

Step 1: Multiplication of the Virus Step 1: Multiplication of the Virus

The metabolic production system of the host cell receives biological signals to multiply the virus particles. After multiple reproduction cycles, virus particles are released by the host cell into the surrounding area where the newly made viruses can invade new cells. ...hide content

Step 2: Mass Production of Collagen-Dissolving Enzymes Step 2: Mass Production of Collagen-Dissolving Enzymes

The virus also sends biological signals to the host cell to produce and secrete collagen-digesting enzymes.  The collagen-digesting enzymes then start dissolving the surrounding tissue. With the help of these enzymes the infection then can spread easily to other parts of the body. The more a virus is capable of using the metabolism of a host cell for these two purposes, the faster a virus infection will spread and the sicker a patient will feel.

Strengthening and preserving the integrity of the connective tissue surrounding all cells in our body is important in combating infectious diseases caused by viruses (i.e., the flu, herpes and HIV/AIDS). This can be achieved by supporting the production of collagen and other connective tissue components and by inhibiting the activity of connective tissue degrading enzymes. Natural substances such as lysine, in connection with optimum supplementation with vitamin C and other micronutrients, can stop or slow down the aggressive spread of an infection and provide additional health benefits.

This same collagen-dissolving mechanism plays an important role in a variety of infectious diseases, such as those caused by bacteria or parasites. Without the disruption of the surrounding connective tissue, the agents that cause diseases (viruses and bacteria) cannot invade the body and spread. ...hide content

Dr. Rath Cellular Health™

Worldwide, more than 100 million people suffer from diabetes, characterized by a high sugar level in the blood. The reason for it is either insufficient insulin production, the hormone responsible for sugar metabolism, or impaired cellular response to this hormone.

Diabetic disorders have a genetic background and are divided into two types: juvenile or Type I and adult, also called Type II diabetes. Type I diabetes is generally caused by a genetic defect that leads to an insufficient production of insulin in the pancreas and it requires regular insulin injections to control blood sugar levels. The majority of diabetic patients, however, develop this disease as adults. Adult or Type II forms of diabetes also have a genetic background. However, the causes that trigger the outbreak of the disease in these patients at any stage in their adult lives have been unknown. It is, therefore, not surprising that diabetes is yet another disease that is still growing on a global scale.

Cellular Medicine now provides a breakthrough in our understanding of the causes, prevention and adjunct treatment of adult diabetes. The primary cause of adult onset diabetes is a long-term deficiency of certain vitamins and other essential nutrients in the millions of cells in the pancreas (the organ that produces insulin), the liver and the blood vessel walls, as well as other organs. In individuals with inherited diabetic predisposition, deficiencies of vitamins and other essential nutrients can trigger a diabetic metabolism and the onset of adult diabetes. Conversely, the optimum intake of vitamins and other essential nutrients can help prevent the onset of this disease and help correct existing diabetic conditions and its complications. read more...

The key to understanding cardiovascular disease in diabetics is to recognize the similarity in the molecular structure of vitamin C and sugar (glucose) molecules. This similarity can lead to metabolic confusion in the process to transporting glucose and vitamin C molecules through cellular membranes. With an abundance of glucose in the bloodstream, the transport of vitamin C molecules through cellular membranes of vascular cells becomes blocked resulting in vitamin C deficiency conditions inside these cells. For the cardiovascular system vitamin C deficiency has especially severe consequences as it leads to developing cardiovascular deposits not only in the arteries of the heart, but also in blood vessels in the legs, eyes and other organs in the body.

Therefore, the decisive measure for preventing cardiovascular complications in diabetes is by the optimum daily intake of selected cellular nutrients – in particular vitamin C. Clinical data have shown that with high intake of vitamin C the requirements for insulin becomes lower.

The results of a pilot clinical trial have shown that the optimum intake of a combination of vitamin C with other vitamins, amino acids and minerals, such as chromium, has resulted in lowering of glucose levels in the blood and a decreased glycosylated hemoglobin index (an indicator of the damage to red blood cells caused by sugar). Nutrients acting in a synergy help to restore the balance between vitamin C and sugar metabolism inside the cells of the pancreas, blood vessel walls and other organs, which is compromised in a diabetic state. ...read less

Coronary Heart Disease, the cause of heart attacks and strokes is an early form of scurvy

Dr. Rath’s discovery reveals that the development of atherosclerotic deposits in the arteries of the heart is triggered by a long term deficiency of vitamin C in the cells building the artery wall as countermeasure to loosening of the endothelial barrier function. Multiple pathomechanisms that lead to clinical manifestation of cardiovascular disease (i.e. lipoproteins deposition) are primarily defense mechanisms aiming at the stabilization of the vascular wall structure.

Ascorbate deficiency is the precondition and a common denominator of human cardiovascular disease (CVD)

Premature CVD is essentially unknown in all animal species that produce high amounts of vitamin C (ascorbate) endogenously. The genetic mutation that rendered all human beings today dependent on dietary vitamin C is the universal underlying cause of CVD. The development of this condition resembles scurvy when a lack of vitamin C and resulting from it failure in collagen production, increases permeability of blood vessel walls resulting in perivascular bleeding.  Today, our average diet provides enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy, but not enough to guarantee stable artery walls. As a consequence of suboptimal vitamin C supply, millions of tiny cracks and lesions develop in the artery walls. Subsequently, cholesterol, lipoproteins and other blood risk factors enter the damaged artery walls to repair these lesions.

With chronic vitamin C deficiency, this repair process becomes continuous leading over the course of many years to the development of atherosclerotic deposits which eventually can cause a blockage of a blood flow resulting in a heart attack or stroke.

This concept answers key questions in clinical cardiology

Why do we get heart infarctions, not nose or ears? Why do we get heart infarctions, not nose or ears?

Two critical factors are responsible for this: structural impairment of the vascular wall due to vitamin deficiency combined with the mechanical stress from pulsatile blood flow in the coronary arteries. It is this unique spot (coronary arteries) only the size of few inches in a 60000 miles long blood vessel pipeline where weakness of the vascular wall is exposed first....hide content

Why high blood cholesterol can’t be a primary cause of heart disease? Why high blood cholesterol can’t be a primary cause of heart disease?

If high cholesterol in the bloodstream would cause damage to the arteries it would clog blood vessels everywhere, not just at one predominant spot with the length of only one billionths of the total vascular pipeline. This becomes self-understood if we refocus our attention from the systemic factors in the blood towards the only one relevant target: the stability of the vascular wall....hide content

Why do we get athero-sclerosis, not veno-sclerosis? Why do we get athero-sclerosis, not veno-sclerosis?

The high cholesterol or infection theories would inevitably lead to clogging of veins and capillaries The vitamin C (scurvy) heart disease connection provides the only logical answer to this phenomenon....hide content

Why people get heart attacks, but animals don’t? Why people get heart attacks, but animals don’t?

Bears and other hibernators can reach blood cholesterol levels of 600mg/dl, but are not consider being at risk of getting heart attacks. Animals produce vitamin C internally in amounts from 1g to 20 grams daily compared to human body weight. These amounts are obviously sufficient to optimize the stability of their vascular wall and do not require cholesterol-lowering medications....hide content

Why many heart disease risk factors, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, or high homocysteine levels are connected to vitamin C deficiency? Why many heart disease risk factors, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, or high homocysteine levels are connected to vitamin C deficiency?

The common denominator of these metabolic disorders can be found as they provide compensatory stability for the vitamin deficient wall or relate to vitamin deficiency. This may also be a reason why ascorbate deficiency increases fibrinogen and thromboxane (clotting factors) levels while decreasing endothelial derived relaxing factor (NO0 and prostacyclin....hide content

Which nutrients are important for vascular wall stability? Which nutrients are important for vascular wall stability?

Dr. Rath’s discovery identified that atherosclerosis is nature’s plaster cast for weak and cracked arterial walls that are chronically deficient in vitamin C and other essential nutrients. One of these essential nutrients is the amino acid lysine. Lysine is called an essential amino acid because, similar to vitamin C, it cannot be produced in the human body.  Lysine, together with another amino acid, proline, are important components of collagen and their hydroxylation is responsible for optimum stability and structure of collagen fibers. These two amino acids comprise about 25% of all amino acids in the collagen molecule. A deficiency of lysine and proline can also trigger blood vessel wall weakness and instability....hide content

Conclusions:

This discovery provides scientific basis for designing effective preventive and therapeutic approaches for heart disease. Modern approaches to heart disease need to refocus from ‘too high’ cholesterol in the blood to “too little” vitamin C and other natural components essential for the production of collagen, elastin, and other reinforcement molecules in the body.

This groundbreaking discovery in heart disease should be taught in every medical textbook and school. It also explains why other cardiovascular conditions, including heart failure, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure and circulatory problems in diabetes, occur in the case of long-term vitamin deficiencies.