# Linus Pauling and His obsession with vitamin C **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614 "2019-09-21T15:25:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/1 "2019-09-21T15:25:38Z")
From casual reading, it appears that the two times Nobel Laureate was into some sort of Vitamin C woo. Quote from [How Linus Pauling duped America into believing vitamin C cures colds - Vox](https://www.vox.com/2015/1/15/7547741/vitamin-c-myth-pauling) > [@](#): > > Over the next few years, Pauling upped his intake of vitamin C, eventually taking 18,000 mg per day. Vitamin C became his scientific obsession. > > In 1970, Pauling came out with his book Vitamin C and the Common Cold, where he encouraged Americans to consume 3,000 mg of vitamin C daily. So was Pauling right about Vitamin C curing the common cold ? What about curing other diseases that Pauling claimed ? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/2 "2019-09-21T16:19:52Z")
No, Pauling was full of shit. (You would have noticed if there was an acknowledged cure for the common cold.) ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/3 "2019-09-21T16:29:18Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > From casual reading, it appears that the two times Nobel Laureate was into some sort of Vitamin C woo. Yes, yes he was. He is a particularly infamous case of a brilliant scientist who fell deeply into woo when commenting on an area where he had no expertise. > [@am77494](#): > > So was Pauling right about Vitamin C curing the common cold ? What about curing other diseases that Pauling claimed ? No, no he wasn’t. It’s right there in the article you linked to: > [@](#): > > …[S]cientists were repeatedly finding that colds progress much the same way regardless of whether you down a giant jug of Tropicana or not. > > A Cochrane review of nearly 30 studies looking at people with colds taking the normal daily dose of vitamin C found that it reduced colds’ length by 8 percent. This means if your cold lasts five days, it might be shortened by about 10 hours. > > Researchers have also poured a lot of effort into examining whether vitamin C supplements lower the risk of cancer. But evidence from clinical trials, by and large, shows that vitamin C supplements (usually taken with other nutrients like vitamin E and zinc) have no such effect. The same problem cropped up when researchers tried to establish a connection between vitamin C and pneumonia. > > “Lots of people have tried to feed high levels of a single nutrient like vitamin C and look at anything from cardiovascular disease to cancer to cataracts, and most of those trials have been very disappointing,” says Dr. John Erdman, a nutrition researcher who sat on the panel that decides daily recommended intakes of vitamins. It is possible to have dietary and/or metabolic deficiencies in vitamins, probably the best known of which is the scurvy that sailors often used to suffer from. For some specific people, who specifically have a vitamin C deficiency which for whatever reason isn’t easily corrected by an improved diet, taking vitamin C is useful. For the vast majority people, whether for preventing colds, treating them, or general disease-fighting and life extension, as Linus Pauling advocated, it’s useless. Maybe worse than useless. Also from the article: “In one study, Swedish researchers found that men taking vitamin C were twice as likely to develop kidney stones as their peers who happened to not be taking the vitamins.” ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/4 "2019-09-21T16:52:39Z")
I did find this > **[A combination of high-dose vitamin C plus zinc for the common cold - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22429343/)** > > Vitamin C and zinc play important roles in nutrition, immune defence and maintenance of health. Intake of both is often inadequate, even in affluent populations. The common cold continues to place a great burden on society in terms of suffering and... > [@](#): > > After an overview of the literature on the effects of the separate administration of either vitamin C or zinc against the common cold, this article presents data from two preliminary, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials, conducted with a combination of 1000 mg vitamin C plus 10 mg zinc in patients with the common cold. In both studies, a nonsignificant reduction of rhinorrhoea duration (range 9-27%) was seen. In pooled analyses of both studies (n=94), vitamin C plus zinc was significantly more efficient than placebo at reducing rhinorrhoea over 5 days of treatment. However, thats probably not a fair study since zinc is known to fight the cold. Zinc is the ingredient in zicam and cold lozenges that makes it work, as zinc blocks the ICAM-1 receptor that the cold virus attaches to. So I don’t know if that study counts. This study seems to look at vitamin C in isolation. > **[Larger doses of vitamin C may lead to a greater reduction in common cold...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170330115246.htm)** > > The relationship between vitamin C dosage and its effects on the duration of the common cold symptoms may extend to 6-8 grams per day. > [@](#): > > Dr. Harri Hemilä from the University of Helsinki, Finland, analyzed the findings of two randomized trials each of which investigated the effects of two vitamin C doses on the duration of the common cold. The first trial administered 3 g/day vitamin C to two study groups, 6 g/day to a third group, and the fourth group was administered a placebo. Compared with the placebo group the 6 g/day dose shortened colds by 17%, twice as much as the 3 g/day doses did. The second trial administered 4 g/day and 8 g/day vitamin C, and placebo to different groups, but only on the first day of the cold. Compared with the placebo group, the 8 g/day dose shortened colds by 19%, twice as much as the 4 g/day dose did. Both studies revealed a significant dose-response relationship between the vitamin C dosage and the duration of the common cold. The dose-response relationship in these two trials was also quite linear up to the levels of 6-8 g/day, thus it is possible that even higher doses may lead to still greater reductions in the duration of common cold. Dr. Hemilä notes that there have been proposals that vitamin C doses should be over 15 g/day for the best treatment of colds, but the highest doses that have so far been investigated in randomized trials have been much lower An issue with vitamin C is that the body just dumps excess. So you have to redose every 3-5 hours or so to keep plasma levels high. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sebastian\_Padayatty/publication/8632637/figure/fig2/AS:669325178462228@1536590966518/Predicted-plasma-vitamin-C-concentrations-in-healthy-persons-after-oral-top-or.png](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sebastian_Padayatty/publication/8632637/figure/fig2/AS:669325178462228@1536590966518/Predicted-plasma-vitamin-C-concentrations-in-healthy-persons-after-oral-top-or.png) ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/5 "2019-09-21T17:01:24Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > No, no he wasn’t. It’s right there in the article you linked" Yes thanks, I saw that but there is also this page from the Linus Pauling Institute at the Oregon State University (his alma Mater): > **[Vitamin C](https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-C)** > > Contents Summary Function Role in immunity Bioavailability Deficiency The RDA Disease Prevention Cardiovascular disease Cancer Type 2 diabetes mellitus Adverse pregnancy outcomes It has a whole page of diseases that “benefit” from Vitamin C with Ph.D. Authors. The diseases range from Alzheimer’s to cardiovascular diseases. Are these authors still claiming woo as science? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/6 "2019-09-21T17:06:40Z")
It’s hard to see how this was really a factual question given that the word “myth” is in your own link, and the headline it links to is “How Linus Pauling duped America into believing vitamin C cures colds”. Another thread on the theme of how scientists get things wrong - is there a broader point you want to make? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/7 "2019-09-21T17:11:04Z")
Did Pauling himself engage in p-value abuse or other dodgy research to support woo claims? It’s one thing merely to spout bullshit, another to falsify data. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/8 "2019-09-21T18:27:39Z")
I’m willing to try something with a 9-27% potential for reducing cold symptoms. Hell, my chemo only increased my likely longevity by less than that. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/9 "2019-09-22T00:22:41Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I did find this > > [A combination of high-dose vitamin C plus zinc for the common cold - PubMed](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22429343) > > However, thats probably not a fair study since zinc is known to fight the cold. Zinc is the ingredient in zicam and cold lozenges that makes it work, as zinc blocks the ICAM-1 receptor that the cold virus attaches to. > > So I don’t know if that study counts. > > This study seems to look at vitamin C in isolation. > > [Larger doses of vitamin C may lead to a greater reduction in common cold duration | ScienceDaily](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170330115246.htm) Please note that Zicam brand cold lozenges are [a homeopathic product](https://www.zicam.com/our-products/cold-shortening/wild-cherry-lozenges/). That means that Zicam brand lozenges do not actually have to contain any detectable amount of zinc. I am not saying that zinc lozenges do not work. In fact, I take them and feel better, which does not prove that they actually did anything. But if you want to try zinc lozenges for your cold, at least make sure that they are real zinc lozenges. Most of the lozenges sold in major drug stores ([including the store brand](https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-zinc-lozenges-cherry/ID=prod6281499-product?ext=gooKBM_PLA_-_Health_Care&pla&adtype=pla_with_promotion&kpid=sku6238154&sst=_k_EAIaIQobChMI2tXz-pPj5AIVh8DACh0bNAU3EAQYASABEgLLM_D_BwE_k_&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2tXz-pPj5AIVh8DACh0bNAU3EAQYASABEgLLM_D_BwE)) are homeopathic. A good way to tell if they are homeopathic is to look at the “active ingredients” label. If the quantity of the active ingredient has an “X” after it (instead of grams or mg, etc), that means the product is homeopathic. For example, [the active ingredients label](https://www.zicam.com/our-products/cold-shortening/wild-cherry-lozenges/) on Zicam brand Wild Cherry Lozenges says: Zincum aceticum 2x Zincum gluconicum 2x ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/10 "2019-09-22T01:00:29Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Did Pauling himself engage in p-value abuse or other dodgy research to support woo claims? It’s one thing merely to spout bullshit, another to falsify data. The quality of Pauling’s research purporting to show that vitamin C was useful in treating cancer [has been questioned](http://respectfulinsolence.com/2009/02/18/vitamin-c-and-cancer-has-linus-pauling-b/). _“Unfortunately, as experimental clinical protocols go, (Pauling’s initial study of vitamin C treatment in terminal cancer patients) was a complete mess. Linus Pauling was not a clinician and had no experience in clinical trial design, and it really showed. Even as a restrospective analysis, the paper was a total embarrassment. There was no standardization, no good matching of controls by age, stage of cancer, or performance status; given the terrible design, there was clearly serious selection bias going on at a minimum. The study’s flaws, which were too numerous to mention, rendered its results essentially meaningless.”_ Every few years the news media goes gaga about a new study purportedly “vindicating” Pauling’s beliefs about vitamin C and cancer (a few months back a paper reported intravenous high-dose vitamin C could prolong survival by a few months in glioblastoma). This mildly encouraging data needs to be balanced against the finding that vitamin C may actually promote cancer growth through a protective effect extended to neoplastic cells, or interfere with other cancer drugs. A 2018 review had this to say: _“The potential synergy of IV C with chemotherapy or radiation treatment, and the effect on overall outcomes, including survival, of a combined treatment approach, warrant further study. Studies that have already explored the effects of IV C in supportive care have design flaws such as small sample sizes and lack of a control group; thus, future studies could add a placebo control in a parallel-arm or crossover design. Studies that include blood biomarkers are also needed. How long any potential effect of an individual IV C treatment lasts is unknown.”_ > **[Intravenous vitamin C in the supportive care of cancer patients: a review and...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5927785/)** > > This article reviews intravenous vitamin C (IV C) in cancer care and offers a rational approach to enable medical oncologists and integrative practitioners to safely provide IV C combined with oral vitamin C to patients. The use of IV C is a safe... ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/11 "2019-09-22T01:00:48Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Please note that Zicam brand cold lozenges are [a homeopathic product](https://www.zicam.com/our-products/cold-shortening/wild-cherry-lozenges/). That means that Zicam brand lozenges do not actually have to contain any detectable amount of zinc… > > If the quantity of the active ingredient has an “X” after it (instead of grams or mg, etc), that means the product is homeopathic. For example, [the active ingredients label](https://www.zicam.com/our-products/cold-shortening/wild-cherry-lozenges/) on Zicam brand Wild Cherry Lozenges says: > > Zincum aceticum 2x > Zincum gluconicum 2x I believe “X” means a 10-fold dilution, and the number preceding it indicates the number of serial dilutions. So 2X would mean 1% zinc, which I would think is a significant dose? And this product claims scientific evidence for efficacy, which implies (if it’s not a lie) that it’s not really homeopathic in the usual sense, it’s just being marketed under that guise. More commonly, homeopathic remedies might be something like “30C” mean 30 serial 100-fold dilutions, i.e. 10^-60, so that not even one molecule of the original substance is present. I know that the laws on labeling supplements and woo are shockingly lax, but can a homeopathic product label something as an “active ingredient” if it’s not present? ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/12 "2019-09-22T01:35:26Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > More commonly, homeopathic remedies might be something like “30C” mean 30 serial 100-fold dilutions, i.e. 10^-60, so that not even one molecule of the original substance is present. I know that the laws on labeling supplements and woo are shockingly lax, but can a homeopathic product label something as an “active ingredient” if it’s not present? Sure they can. [Boiron Arnica Montana 30C 3 Tubes (80 Pellets per Tube) Homeopathic Medicine for Pain Relief](https://www.amazon.com/Boiron-Montana-Pellets-Homeopathic-Medicine/dp/B013JKW8Z2/ref=asc_df_B013JKW8Z2/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309807159760&hvpos=1o8&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10582750729975713530&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021735&hvtargid=pla-570512497596&psc=1) See the Active Ingredients on the Drug Facts label. Click on the second image in the left-hand column. “Arnica Montana 30C HPUS” ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/13 "2019-09-22T03:35:43Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > He is a particularly infamous case of a brilliant scientist who fell deeply into woo when commenting on an area where he had no expertise. This is fairly common, particularly in controversial areas like climate change where there is money to be made, so one always has to be careful with the notion of “scientists say …” without knowing just who those scientists are. The physicist Freeman Dyson developed a fixation around debunking climate science in his old age, presumably due to dementia, believing that his putative expertise with computer models was sufficient to disclaim the validity of climate models. Others have done it strictly for the money, like [Frederick Seitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Seitz), who was prominent enough to become president of the National Academy of Sciences, yet deceitful enough to become a consultant for RJ Reynolds helping to deny that tobacco was harmful before he became a climate change denier. He was a founder of the right-wing George C. Marshall Institute and in fact helped spread damaging misinformation about tobacco smoke, acid rain, CFCs, and pesticides as well as about climate change. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/14 "2019-09-22T04:57:56Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Sure they can. > > [Boiron Arnica Montana 30C 3 Tubes (80 Pellets per Tube) Homeopathic Medicine for Pain Relief](https://www.amazon.com/Boiron-Montana-Pellets-Homeopathic-Medicine/dp/B013JKW8Z2/ref=asc_df_B013JKW8Z2/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309807159760&hvpos=1o8&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10582750729975713530&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021735&hvtargid=pla-570512497596&psc=1) > > See the Active Ingredients on the Drug Facts label. Click on the second image in the left-hand column. “Arnica Montana 30C HPUS” That’s appalling. _Real_ drugs cost billions of dollars and years of testing to bring to market. Yet homeopaths can pull nonsense out of their recti and label something that’s simply not present an “active ingredient”? The FDA should be ashamed of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/15 "2019-09-22T13:53:10Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > That’s appalling. _Real_ drugs cost billions of dollars and years of testing to bring to market. Yet homeopaths can pull nonsense out of their recti and label something that’s simply not present an “active ingredient”? The FDA should be ashamed of themselves. The FDA is not allowed to regulate homeopathic products. Blame congress, which passed an exception for homeopathy for that. The scientists and staff of the FDA try hard to be a force for drug safety but often find themselves hamstrung by both the laws and the political oversight aimed at them. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/16 "2019-09-24T15:49:00Z")
As this thread seems to be winding down, here are a couple of FWIWs. There does seem to be _some_ evidence that Vitamin D can _prevent_ colds. Here’s a [NHS article](https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/add-vitamin-d-to-food-to-prevent-colds-and-flu-say-researchers/) with links to the meta study they discuss (which does have some weaknesses; though a [subsequent meta study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5949172/) reached similar conclusions). > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > No, Pauling was full of shit. (You would have noticed if there was an acknowledged cure for the common cold.) There is (of sorts). It’s called pleconaril. The FDA declined to licence it because of the side effect profile - essentially, they had problems with pretty much any side effects due to a drug used to treat (if I can remember the phrase correctly) _a trivial and self-limiting disease_. But it undeniably works (somewhat). Here’s an [interesting discussion](https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473-3099(02)00326-2.pdf) from the time. j ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/17 "2019-09-25T05:51:15Z")
That’s an interesting article. Love the title, by the way. “Cold Comfort.” _bah-dum_ A bit chilling that a primary “benefit” of the treatment is that patients wouldn’t be as motivated to seek/take inappropriate antibiotics. Which makes me wonder, who the fuck are these doctors who still prescribe antibiotics that recklessly, though? Sorry, hijacking a bit. I’ll see myself out, and maybe take a Vitamin C supplement as I go. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/18 "2019-09-25T08:24:25Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > … Sorry, hijacking a bit. I’ll see myself out, and maybe take a Vitamin C supplement as I go. Or perhaps you could type ‘ZINC’ on a piece of paper and stare at it intently for 15 seconds. You’d probably still pick up more Zinc molecules than the average homeopathic cure. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linus-pauling-and-his-obsession-with-vitamin-c/840614/19 "2019-09-25T17:46:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > The scientists and staff of the FDA try hard to be a force for drug safety but often find themselves hamstrung by both the laws and the political oversight aimed at them. At least Orrin Hatch and Tom Harkin (big “natural remedy” boosters) are no longer in the Senate. Hatch was an influential buddy not only to [supplement manufacturers](http://latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-hatch-20180105-story.html)\* but big drug companies too (an article in today’s Wall. St. Journal talks about how pharma is ramping up lobbying efforts to try to defeat pricing restrictions and how things have changed since Orrin retired). _this article mentions Hatch’s “noxious offspring” which I first thought was a slam against his son, a longtime supplement industry lobbyist_\*, but it’s actually a reference to DSHEA, the legislation which allows Big Supplement to get away with making outrageous claims for its products. \*\*a bunch of former Hatch aides have been involved in similar lobbying efforts, and his grandson helps run a chiropractic clinic which sells various kinds of dubious remedies. It’s multi-generational woo and the $$$ that goes with it.