Element I: The collagen matrix

The entire body is held together by connective tissue. Collagen is the strong, fibrous protein that serves as the building block for connective tissues-including skin, tendons, ligaments, eyes and arteries.

Collagen is like the glue that holds the body together. Collagen production is dependent upon ample supplies of ascorbates.

While most animals produce their own ascorbates from the food they eat, humans, guinea pigs, fruit bats and primates do not. Scientists believe that about 10,000 years ago humans could produce their own ascorbates.

Unless sufficient quantities of usable ascorbates are ingested daily, the collagen matrix becomes stiff and brittle: Skin wrinkles, backs ache, ligaments pull and the little sacs in the lungs get stiff-causing blood vessels and arteries to crack.

Also critical to the production of collagen are the amino acids lysine and proline. When our bodies do not have enough vitamin C, they cannot use the amino acids lysine and proline to make the proper cross links in the collagen. Like ascorbates, humans must obtain lysine from dietary sources. Our dietary intake is usually deficient in lysine. Proline can be produced by the body but usually in inadequate quantities. Lysine and proline are essential for proper collagen formation and to prevent cholesterol build-up in the form of plaque.

Symptoms caused by ascorbate deficiencies (and the body's subsequent inabilityto utilize lysine and proline) are traditionally referred to as "scurvy." The body can, for a time, manufacture enough lipoproteins from blood plasma to "patch" the vesicular/arterial cracks. The patch material is commonly called "plaque." As the plaque gets thicker, vessels and arteries can no longer flex and blood flow is restricted.

As a result, the resting heart rate increases. This condition is commonly diagnosed as "high blood pressure."

Over time, vessels and arteries can become so cracked and plaqued that people lose blood internally, eventually resulting in a heart attack.

High blood pressure, also known as hypoascorbemia, is advance warning that the host is preparing to become another heart disease statistic.

A diet rich in ascorbates can prevent scurvy and, to some extent, therapeutic doses of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) can reverse the deficiency and other chronic conditions created by a lack of vitamin C. But ascorbic acid is only one form of ascorbate and can cause digestive discomfort when therapeutic doses are administered.

Buffered mineral ascorbates (sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate and potassium ascorbate) can be taken daily in larger quantities without discomfort. The only substances capable of healing damaged vessels and arteries are ascorbates.

It should also be noted that the presence of buffered mineral ascorbates prevents and/or reverses the symptoms of high blood sugar, commonly referred to as "diabetes."

There are no surgical procedures to be performed nor drugs taken that will remove the plaque and heal cracked vessels and arteries.