Linus Pauling, Ph.D
1987
Linus Pauling bio
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Highly recommended. Extremely clear and well-written book by Nobel prize-winning chemist, crystallographer, molecular biologist, and medical researcher Linus Pauling.  The breadth of Pauling's interests and research was enormous, and his published work prodigious—more than 1,065 publications, from scientific and popular books and articles to book forewords and reviews to letters to editors and printed speeches.   

No stranger to controversy after having bucked the establishment to champion the cause of an atmospheric nuclear testing ban, for which he ultimately won his second Nobel, the Peace prize, Pauling put his reputation in harm's way again by challenging the medical industry over their dismissal of the value of nutrition and supplements.

Dr. Pauling  is probably better known now as the most famous proponent of Vitamin C than for his many original contributions to the field of chemistry or for his efforts to ban nuclear testing.

In this book, written when he was 86, he describes in a very simple way the science behind the use of vitamins and mega or optimiun dosing, and particularly the many functions vitamin C serves in the body. Every other mammal except guinea pigs has the capacity to manufacuture its own vitamin C, and in vast amounts when the animal is under stress. Vitamin C has still never been proven by solid research to have any negative side effects, although the most common pharmaceutical drugs carry a long list of possible damages they may cause. It has been used with success since the 30's for treating a wide range of diseases, many covered in this book. It was not in '87 and it is still not an acceptable medical therapy, however, although it is widely used by alternative doctors. Even Dr. Pauling, a gentleman to the core, has to remark somewhat harshly upon this anomaly. See also Ascorbate by Steve Hickey, Ph,D.

You will also find that in 1987 he says what is just starting to leak out in the media--that cholesterol and saturated fat actually do not cause heart disease, and that it can quite possibly prevented with adequate intake of Vitamin C. He followed his own program and actively pursued these interests until nearly the time of his death in 1994 at the age of 93.

He says,

"I have been astonished, as have other people, that in the last quarter of the twentieth century a single substance would be recognized to be helpful no matter what disease a person is suffering from. The reason that vitamin C is such a substance is that by its involvement in many biochemical reactions in the human body it makes the body's natural defenses more powerful, and it is these natural defenses that provide most of our resistance to disease. Our bodies can fight disease effectively only when we have in our organs and body fluids enough vitamin C to enable our natural protective mechanisms to operate effectively. The amount required is, of course, much larger than the amount that has been recommended by the authorities in medicine and nutrition in the past." [between 4 and 200+ grams per 24 hours--see chart in following chapter]

Because of the scare stories about Avian Flu and Swine Flu, I have included his chapter on influenza and infectious diseases.

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