The Great Scientist

The great scientist is Dr. Linus Pauling.   He is rated as one of the 20 most important scientists in history, helping to create the vast fields of quantum mechanics and molecular biology, coming within a whisker of solving the structure of DNA.  Even so, he is the only individual to ever get two solo Nobel Prizes in 2 fields.  The first, in 1954, was for Chemistry, for elucidating the nature of chemical bonds in complex molecules.  The second, in 1962 was for Peace, for his work to limit the use of nuclear weapons.

How did one of the greatest scientists in history get involved in preventing and treating colds?  The path began with his own experience with a disease of his kidneys.  His doctor treated him with a diet altered to reduce stress on his kidneys, and it appeared to help.  Included in this approach were some vitamins.  Dr. Pauling developed a focus on the idea that if you gave someone very large doses of vitamins, you could treat and/or prevent disease.

Linus Pauling became best known, in the vitamin world, for his very bold claims about Vitamin C.  He claimed that taking huge doses of Vitamin C could prevent and treat,  heart disease and colds, and prevent cancer.

Having someone of his stature make such a bold set of claims forced the world to take notice, and went a long way to establishing the entire notion that foods can treat or prevent disease.  The question of whether what we eat can impact our health is of course answered with a resounding yes.  But the question if whether pounds of Vitamin C can prevent or cure a cold is not so obvious.

​Was the Great Scientist Right about Vitamin C and Colds?​

As with all of Linus Pauling’s work, simply observing the proposed theory can tell us if the theory is right or not.  In the case of colds, all one had to do is see if a group of people who took massive doses of Vitamin C had fewer colds than people who took no Vitamin C.

The answer turns out to be no.

Then one could ask, do people who eat massive doses of Vitamin C shorten the time of their cold?

The answer to this question turns out to be no, too.

In fact, as readers of Real Answers already know, study after study has found that no vitamin prevents colds or shortens their course.

So Why do So Many People Experience Fewer Colds and Shorter Colds if they Take Vitamins?

This turns out to be a complex phenomenon.

​It goes to the heart of knowing if a treatment “works.”   By “works,” what we really mean, is this:  can the treatment reliably, predictably reduce the chance of a condition occurring or make it far milder.   We think most people would agree that if a treatment can’t do this, it doesn’t “work.”

The best way to know if any treatment works is to give it to one group and compare those people’s experiences to people who don’t get the treatment.

If the two groups are the same in all ways but the treatment, and the treated group has no benefit, then the treatment does not “work.”

I also like the real world experience of very large groups of people, like a country or continent.   A great example is trying to decide if a certain treatment can prevent people from getting polio.  Once the polio vaccine was invented and put into use, polio disappeared from countries using it.

That’s a very reliable way to determine if a treatment works.

On that basis, I believe we will know when we finally come up with a treatment that works for colds, we will stop suffering from them across the country, and once used by everyone, across the world.

Now, why do some people find remedies that fail the test of “working” find that they work?

For colds, the answer lies in the dramatic variability of colds.  Take one person and track 100 of their colds over many years.  In nearly every instance, you will find that some of those 100 colds last 3 weeks, some 3 hours, many 4-5 days, some a couple of weeks.

And so, it is not only possible, but very likely that someone could have a cold that will last 3 weeks one October, and then in November get a cold that lasts only 12 hours.   If they suffered during the 3 week cold and decided to try anything, then took some item in November, they would be certain that their treatment “worked,” their colds went from lasting 3 weeks to one day!

We all have had experiences of taking something and feeling better soon afterwards, and I actually am very happy for anyone when that happens, and hope it happens all the time.  But it does not prove that the treatment “works.”   If you feel better after a treatment, it does not prove it will make most people feel better most of the time, the only way to know that is to try it out on a large group and see if that group’s experience is much, much better than a group that did not have the treatment.

BOTTOM LINES

1. This cold and flu season, it is nice to remember the towering genius of Dr. Linus Pauling, and how wrong he was in his speculations about Vitamin C.
2. Vitamin C does not prevent colds and does not make them go away more quickly.
3. Dr. Pauling also claimed Vitamin C prevented cancer, and he and his last wife took large doses daily, but both died of cancer.
4. How do you know if a treatment “works?”  If when used it eliminates the problem across a large population, like a country.
5. Lots of progress has been and continues to be achieved in medicine, but the viral infection remains a very stubborn problem for which we have no good cures once you get sick.

Let’s hope 2018 is a very Happy and a very Healthy Year!

Dr. Arthur Lavin​