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Vitamin C and Colds

July 18, 2007 by dez (not verified), 2 years 16 weeks ago
Comment id: 24277

Once again a dishonest report about vitamin C and colds.

Like almost all other so-called research on Vitamin C, this survey of studies looks primarily at small doses of Vitamin C, not the 1000 mg plus dose that Linus Pauling recommended.

Why do not these researchers test Pauling's idea directly, with large doses? The usual answer is that such large doses will harm people. This obviously is bogus -- millions of Americans have taken 1000 to 5000 mg of Vitamin C daily during cold season and there are seldom any medical complications. Don't believe me? Well, check the medical literature for overdose complications from Vitamin C and you will find slim pickings. If millions have have take large doses of Vitamin C, surely there would be an incidence of ulcers and heartburn similar to that for aspirin. But such cases are rare -- very rare.

Since Pauling's time, most all of the studies by medical researchers were done with inadequate doses of Vitamin C. Pauling himself pointed out this glaring fault in the studies, but the medical profession continues to wear blinders -- just as they did for several decades with respect to the use of lithium to treat manic-depression and it took a journalist writing in Life magazine to reveal the stupidity of that prevailing point of view among doctors about lithium.

So instead of parroting the prevailing prejudice, why not do a retrospective analysis of the the studies that did use 1000 mg or more of Vitamin C? Now that would be honest research.

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