Unexplainable

Vitamin C and the common cold

December 17, 2025

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  • Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry and Peace, staked his later career on promoting high-dose Vitamin C as a cure-all for ailments like the common cold and cancer, despite a lack of rigorous scientific consensus. 
  • Pauling's strong advocacy for Vitamin C, often bypassing the scientific peer-review process in favor of public publishing, led to his ostracization from the medical establishment, exemplified by the negative results of the Charles Myrtle clinical trials on cancer. 
  • Modern analysis suggests that while normal supplementation of Vitamin C may slightly reduce cold duration (by about 8%), it has no impact on whether one catches a cold, and there is no evidence that Vitamin C cures cancer. 

Segments

Immunity and Scientific Complexity
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(00:01:21)
  • Key Takeaway: The immune system is profoundly complicated, requiring thousand-page textbooks just to cover the basics.
  • Summary: Immunity is a complex scientific frontier involving countless interacting cells, molecules, and genes. The depth of this complexity means that even simple questions about supplements or exercise are difficult to answer definitively. Understanding the nuances of the immune system’s interaction with the entire body offers a profound reward.
Linus Pauling’s Scientific Rise
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(00:04:40)
  • Key Takeaway: Linus Pauling was a 20th-century scientific wunderkind who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the chemical bond.
  • Summary: Pauling showed early aptitude for chemistry, earning a PhD in chemistry and mathematical physics by the mid-1920s. His 1931 paper, ‘The Nature of the Chemical Bond,’ fundamentally shaped the understanding of chemical reactions and was key to later DNA structure understanding. He became Caltech’s chemistry department chairman at age 36.
Pauling’s Political Activism
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(00:06:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Pauling transitioned from apolitical war work to outspoken anti-nuclear activism, leading to government suspicion and passport denial.
  • Summary: Shocked by the Hiroshima bombing, Pauling became a vocal advocate for the peaceful use of atomic energy, joining the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists. This activism was risky, leading to suspicions of communism during the McCarthy era. Despite this, he won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1962, remaining the only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes.
Shift to Vitamin C Crusade
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(00:16:01)
  • Key Takeaway: After political setbacks, Pauling redirected his focus to finding order in the complexity of human biology, specifically Vitamin C.
  • Summary: Feeling knocked off his pedestal by government and university backlash, Pauling sought redemption through a new crusade: vitamin C. He was intrigued by the idea that vitamins, unlike drugs, might be safely taken in very high doses. An anecdote from scientist Erwin Stone about high-dose Vitamin C aiding recovery from a car crash fueled Pauling’s fixation.
Vitamin C and Common Cold Book
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(00:19:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Pauling’s 1970 bestseller, Vitamin C and the Common Cold, recommended mega-doses of 2,300 mg or more daily, sparking a massive public health trend.
  • Summary: The book became an instant bestseller, capitalizing on the counterculture’s interest in natural remedies, leading manufacturers to dub the trend the ‘Linus-Pauling effect.’ The medical establishment rejected his claims, citing his sidestepping of the peer-review process. Pauling later expanded his claims to include benefits for flu, hepatitis, and eventually, cancer.
Cancer Trials and Scientific Rejection
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(00:24:26)
  • Key Takeaway: Rigorous clinical trials, particularly the two Myrtle studies, concluded that high-dose Vitamin C provided no measurable benefit for cancer patients.
  • Summary: The National Cancer Institute funded a double-blind trial run by Charles Myrtle, which concluded that Vitamin C performed no better than a placebo in shrinking tumors. Pauling contested these results, arguing the trials were flawed due to prior chemotherapy or insufficient trial duration. Despite Pauling’s continued arguments, the scientific consensus remains that Vitamin C does not cure cancer.
Legacy and Modern Perspective
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(00:28:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Despite Pauling’s efforts, Vitamin C does not cure colds or cancer, though supplementation may slightly speed cold recovery.
  • Summary: Reviewing nearly 30 studies found little evidence that normal Vitamin C doses reduce cold symptoms, though supplementation might lead to recovery a few hours faster. Guest Daniel M. Davis is wary of any single supplement being treated as a cure-all, despite Pauling’s charisma making his claims persuasive. Even knowing the science, people may still choose to drink orange juice when sick.