Linus Pauling (1901–1994)

Linus Pauling gained two unshared Nobel Prizes, the only person to have done so.

This book is about how to obtain optimal health “through proper intake of vitamins and other nutrients”. Pauling was an expert on C-vitamin and wrote several books about it.

I found the book fascinating but a bit too scientific to be easily readable.

The author tells us about Dr. Szent-Gyorgyi who first isolated ascorbic acid. The latter stated that one can take any amount of ascorbic acid without the least danger.

In the first chapter, we are informed that we should take 6 to 18 g Vitamin C, 400, 800 or 1600 IU Vitamin E and one or two super-B tablets, a 25,000 IU Vitamin A tablet and a mineral supplement, every single day.

We should reduce the amount of sugar we take and not add it to tea or coffee, and avoid soft drinks. Otherwise we should eat what we like; eggs and meat are good foods. Pauling does say, however, that is not a good idea to eat large amounts of meat. (I do not agree with Pauling about the value of eggs and meat. Medical Medium Anthony William tells us that viruses feed on eggs so they should be avoided. Dr. Vernon Coleman informs us that it is officially accepted that meat-eating causes cancer.)

The book is from 1986, so the author provides us with basic information that we now all are familiar with: we should eat some vegetables and fruits, drink plenty of water, take exercise, drink alcohol only in moderation, do not smoke cigarettes, avoid stress and work at a job we like.

Pauling tells us that milk is good food and provides us with calcium, whereas in my view milk is not good and in fact it has been found that we don’t actually absorb any calcium from it.

He tells us that we should take at least 1 g day to prevent getting a cold, but if you find you develop two or three colds during the winter season you should try taking a larger quantity.

I can’t say how much Vitamin C I take since at present I have to take large quantities of powder because of a bronchial complaint that my doctor can’t diagnose, probably asthmatic bronchitis, but I can state that since I began to take Vitamin C 44 years ago (I can’t remember how much), I have not had a cold or the flu. Thus, I do not expect to catch the present Covid-19 virus.

I can’t remember what it is like to have a cold.

Doctors continue to ignore the evidence about the value of the optimum uptakes of vitamin C and other vitamins. Just 5 mg per day of Vitamin B3, either niacin or nicotin amide, is enough to prevent the deficiency disease pellagra, which 70 years ago (he states) caused hundreds of thousands of people to suffer from diarrhea, dermatitis and dementia and die.

Both Vitamin B3 and Vitamin C are totally lacking in toxicity.

It was Pauling who coined the term “orthomolecular”.

Persons deficient in B12 usually become psychotic before they become anemic. (My own father had pernicious anemia and was bed-ridden for a time before it was discovered he needed B-12 injections, but, luckily, he was not psychotic.)

The author states that injections of the optimum amount of Vitamin C (which amount is not stated) “probably lies in the range of twenty-five years of well-being, with an additional increase from the optimum intake of other vitamins”.

He quotes several doctors as asserting the mistaken notion that there is no evidence for stating that taking Vitamin C will avert the common cold.

When he investigated previous studies regarding the power of Vitamin C in relation to the cold, the author found that the amounts used in these studies were extremely small, e.g. 200 mg a day. But even then fewer days of illness were reported in those taking this amount than in the control group.

The author states that in an epidemic (as in our current pandemic of 2020-2021) it is not the viruses and bacteria we are exposed to that kills us but something else. He believes that it is too little Vitamin C.

Yet, strangely enough, in this current pandemic, no governments or other authorities inform us of how we would be protected by reasonable amounts of Vitamin C and an intake of Vitamin D, zinc, or other vitamins and minerals. We have heard nothing at all of the absolute protective value of vitamins, so only those individuals already in the know can protect themselves, and engage in ordinary contact with others as before.

There is a chapter about proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and water.

Most adult Americans ingest two or three times the recommended amount of protein.

He contends that coronary disease, including angina pectoris, may be related to a high consumption of sugar, and not animal fat.

Some African tribes have a high consumption of animal fat, but very little heart disease. With increasing consumption of sugar, the black population in South Africa is experiencing an increasing incidence of coronary disease.

He warns us against the intake of diet sodas in which sucrose is replaced by toxic artificial sweeteners (like aspartame – my comment).

At one point Pauling states that using Vitamin C to prevent colds may slow down the aging process. This is good news for me since I’ve been taking enough Vitamin C to prevent colds and flu for many years.

The dose of Vitamin C should be determined for each subject by the bowel-tolerance limit. A person’s bowel-tolerance intake of Vitamin C is “the amount of Vitamin C taken by mouth that is a little less than the amount that has a troublesome laxative effect”.

He believes that every person can protect himself or herself from the common cold. “Catching a cold and letting it run its course is a sign that you are not taking enough Vitamin C”.

Vitamin C protects not only against viruses but also against bacteria.

It prevents against infectious hepatitis, which may be caused by viruses or bacteria.

High intake of Vitamin C protects the liver in several ways, also against damage from cigarette smoking and overindulgence in alcoholic drinks.

Many years ago, I used to smoke up to 40 cigarettes a day (I know, terrible!) and developed bronchitis. Eventually, of course, I stopped smoking but until I did I greatly mitigated the bronchitis by taking large amounts of Vitamin C.

The value of Vitamin C in promoting wound healing was recognized in the 1930s; Pauling tells us that if we are injured or have to have a surgical operation, we must insist on being given the optimum amount of Vitamin C.

Peptic ulcers are associated with a deficiency of Vitamin C and so are pressure (bed) sores.

Also Vitamin E and other vitamins in large doses have much value in the treatment of burns.

Re cholesterol, it has been known since 1970 that restricting its intake does not reduce the cholesterol level in the blood.

Regarding heart disease, the emphasis on the intake of fats and cholesterol during the last thirty years has been “misguided and fruitless”. The work of John Yudkin has shown that it is the increase in the consumption of the sugar sucrose that has brought on the pandemic of heart and circulatory disease in the industrial countries.

“The level of ascorbic acid in the leucocytes of cancer patients is usually so low that the leucocytes are not able to carry out their important function of phagocytosis, of engulfing and digesting bacteria nd other foreign cells, including malignant cells in the body.”

Large doses of Vitamin C should be administered to cancer patients over as long a period of 18 months.

Cancer incidence in large population groups is inversely related to average daily ascorbate intake.

Pauling has worked together with the Scottish doctor Ewan Cameron and together they have written “”Cancer and Vitamin C”.

It has been shown that even children with Down’s Syndrome can benefit from “ an increased intake of important nutrients”. They can obtain an increase in IQ of 20 points or more. Their mental ability and behaviour improve to such an extent that they are able to hold jobs and support themselves.

This is the first time I have heard that vitamins and minerals can benefit those with genetic diseases.

Also, the administration of 5g of niacin and 5g of Vitamin C daily to schizophrenics gives striking improvement . This orthomolecular treatment of schizophrenics has not yet been generally accepted (not in Pauling’s time and probably not in our present time either). Though Pauling does state there are now many orthomolecular psychiatrists. He concludes that improved nutrition should be part of the treatment of every person with mental problems.

There are chapters on allergies, arthritis and rheumatism and the eye, the ear and the mouth that I did not have time to peruse properly, but rest assured that Vitamin C can help in those areas too.

There is also a chapter on aging.

Here Pauling examines the deleterious effects of smoking and excessive drinking, and the positive effects og exercise.. Nothing new here, then.

Some of what Pauling touches upon is common knowledge nowadays, but much is not: I found that the book, though dated, makes a valuable contribution to our knowledge of nutrition, particularly the value of Vitamin C and niacin supplementation. Highly recommended.… (mere)