Vitamin C and Longevity

Nobel Prize winning chemist Linus Pauling was the most famous (of many) scientists taking up the mantle of vitamin C. In his books “Vitamin C and the Common Cold” and “How to Live Longer and Feel Better”,  he claimed that the common cold could be almost entirely prevented by taking large dosages of Vitamin C on a daily basis. We’re talking here about dosages far higher than the feeble RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), which is the amount described as “the level of necessary intake” – which is effectively the amount you need to take to avoid dropping dead. Of course the conventional medical profession sneered and tried to discredit him, whilst they happily slapped one another on the back. He took huge dosages himself, lived into his mid-nineties, and worked until two weeks before his passing. I wonder whether the “experts” who sneered lived as long or as healthily as him? The RDA (recommended daily allowance) for Vitamin C is 60mg a day, which is enough to prevent scurvy. It’s also roughly the amount found in a medium-sized orange. Unfortunately, though, the amount found in an orange where weeks have gone by from being picked, to being transported to the supermarket, and from the from the supermarket the shelves to your stomach typically is much lower than this. However, 60mg even from a fresh orange does not provide what most nutritionists consider to be a therapeutic dosage. Linus Pauling himself started on 3000mg (3g) per day, but gradually took more and more until he was taking 18,000mg (18g), of Vitamin C per day!  Pauling believed that supplementing with megadoses of Vitamin C led to an improved resistance against essentially all diseases, and he suggested it increased life-span by up to 25 years. True he beleived in supplementing with a number of other nutrients too, but Vitamin C was very much the core nutrient. For more information, read Linus Pauling’s lovely article My Love Affair With Vitamin C (but finish reading this newsletter first!).