Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C Book

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 Lind?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.Read More