Vitamin C and the Common Cold

“In 1970, double Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Linus Pauling published Vitamin C and the Common Cold, in which he posited that consuming large amounts of vitamin C could reduce the duration and severity of the common cold. The book effectively put vitamin C on the nutritional map, establishing it as a cure-all in the collective minds of the lay public. Nearly a decade later, Pauling published clinical data suggesting that high dose intravenous administration of vitamin C showed promise as a supportive treatment for cancer as well as a strategy to mitigate the side effects of chemotherapy. Pauling's work was heavily criticized in the scientific community, however, due to a lack of proper controls and standardization. Since then, countless studies have tested Pauling's theories about vitamin C, colds, and cancer (and many others), and a substantial body of evidence has emerged, identifying critical roles for vitamin C in immune function, cardiovascular and respiratory health, cognitive development and preservation, and many other aspects of human health.”

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