This book examines the idea that vitamin C can be used to prevent and
treat some of the most serious illnesses of the modern world. Its
shocking conclusion is that there is ample preliminary support for
the suggestion, but the medical and pharmaceutical industries have
failed to replicate the early work. The consequence of this failure
could be huge, both in terms of financial costs to health services,
as well as widespread suffering and premature death. The relationship
between vitamin C and health has been controversial for decades.
Influential scientists, including double Nobel Prize winner Linus
Pauling, have argued that ascorbate could prevent or cure heart
disease, stroke, cancer and infections. Conventional experts
disagreed, disparaging supplements in favour of fruits and
vegetables. This book examines the evidence and shows that the
establishment mistrust of vitamin C supplementation is unfounded. The
frequently quoted advice, that supplements are redundant if the
person consumes five daily portions of fruit and vegetables, is
scientifically weak. The book explores the facts behind the
controversy in detail. It describes the history of vitamin C,
starting with James LindÂ’s classic 1747 experiment on scurvy. This
simple experiment, in which Lind showed that citrus fruit could cure
scurvy, was a turning point in the application of science to
medicine. It is used here to illustrate and explain the scientific
method, which is based on formulating a hypothesis or testable idea,
attempting to refute it, and showing that the results can be repeated
reliably. The modern medical establishment, with its emphasis on
expensive, large-scale trials, has unfortunately come to value
pathological science more highly than solid, replicable experiments.
Large-scale trials have their uses in searching for rare or weak
effects, but if we are looking for a powerful new treatment, then
repeated small-scale experiments will find it more quickly. Using
only a few scurvy sailors, Lind showed that something in citrus fruit
cured them sufficient! ly to be able to work. Anyone who did not
believe the results could simply repeat the experiment. For over half
a century, research into vitamin C has been hindered by failure to
understand how the vitamin is used by the body. For this reason, a
lot of money and effort has been poured into carrying out experiments
that were almost guaranteed to fail, because they used doses that
were too infrequent and too small. This book re-evaluates the
evidence and presents a new model for the action of ascorbate: the
dynamic flow model. This extends the ideas of Klenner, Cathcart,
Pauling, Stone and other pioneering scientists. The model explains
the experiments that have shown beneficial effects of vitamin C, as
well as those that have failed to show such effects. In the light of
the new model, the long-standing controversy is resolved. At first
sight, claims that vitamin C might prevent or cure heart disease,
stroke, cancer and infections such as polio, AIDS and SARS, appear
unbelievable. However, the claimed benefits have a scientific basis
and demand to be considered seriously. This innocuous vitamin could
well offer effective treatments that are far cheaper than current
methods: something our overloaded health services desperately need.
The book concludes with a list of hypotheses that urgently need
testing, to restore scientific respectability to the evaluation of
ascorbate. If even a few of these suggestions are confirmed, readers
will understand why Linus Pauling was prepared to stake his
outstanding scientific reputation on vitamin C.
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