Cholesterol in the CNS: Right Place At The Right Time

Cholesterol is indispensable to the brain and nerves.  Native non-oxidized cholesterol is much more important to the nervous system than other organ systems for which such normal levels of cholesterol may be excessive in that system.  So much so that the brain has its own isolated supply separated from the blood by the notoriously hard to cross blood brain barrier (BBB) which relies on collagen to make it selectively impenetrable to certain molecules.  Any excess is turned into a hydroxy- soluble form which is released from the brain into the blood circulation.  However, when it runs low for whatever reason, cholesterol can be and is actively transported across the BBB from the hepatic supply.  Nowdays, the statin industry has introduced some confusion by entering into the science of Alzheimer's disease.  The big million dollar question is how interfering with the mevalonate pathway can help reduce the causal protein tangles when lowering cholesterol below normal is very toxic to neural function.  There are some elucidations regarding isoprenoids involvement, independent of cholesterol.  Perhaps in some instances with specific ApoE isoforms this is true, but in the majority of instances lowering CNS cholesterol damages it instead of benefitting it.  The tangible outcome of cholesterol depletion in the human brain are problems like amnesia, and the very symptoms of Alzheimer's itself.  The question to answer is probably what optimal cholesterol synthesis is to the brain, as compared to that in the blood supply, just as the "normal" brain ascorbate pool (2000-10,000uM)  is much much higher than that of the bloodstream (60-150uM).

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Regulates Cholesterol Metabolism for Synapse Development

Vitamin C function in the brain: vital role of the ascorbate transporter SVCT2

Dr. Robert F. Cathcart III, M.D. was right...in 1975

While combinations upon the base of high dose Vitamin C are fairly new, the application of high dose Vitamin C against viral ailments is a very old idea that was actually put into practice by Dr. Cathcart.  As with most things in medicine, things that are both cheap and effective tend to get buried by the new widget or pill for sale.  Cathcart was no crank, or belligerent lecturer, but a practicing physician with very strong credentials.

His experience as an actual practicing doctor in the USA, employing Vitamin C as a medicine, clearly shows that a little sprinkle (91 mgs) is quite far away from what you need as a therapeutic dose.

He explains this clearly, unambiguously, in 1981 in the Orthmolecular Psychiatry, one of the few non-corporate aligned outlets that would display an efficacious medicine for humanity that would not bankrupt it.  Yes, we should constantly remember that while people are well-meaning, well-meaning people working for a business are lead by business interests not human interests.  So then the chicken chase goes on for the patent drug, the newest widget and pill to be able to sell at the same time a widely available and safe cure might exist. 

The Method of Determining Proper Doses of Vitamin C for the Treatment of Disease by Titrating to Bowel Tolerance

Anyone who tries to revert back to little sprinkles of Vitamin C does not understand the topic and worse will not achieve a cure or effect.  Might as well do nothing then...

Here is the PubMed entry which documents his experience in healing patients with Vitamin C:

Vitamin C in the treatment of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

If someone thinks a viral disease which can be spread through needle sticks somehow has something to do with morality, they should discuss this idea with their medical doctor or nurse and listen to what they have to say about plagues that arise by "immorality."  Better yet, find one of the many children born with the disease and tell them how they are immoral before they know the meaning of it.  Now that the inane and tedious medieval fingerpointers have been given their aggrandizements, the science can be returned to:

Here is the body of the text in regular html on Vitamincfoundation.org:

VITAMIN C IN THE TREATMENT OF ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS)


"Why eradicate a disease when you can profit by selling non-working pills for it and weaponize its stigma as a sociopolitical gambit" - The body of fiscal corporate thought.