Sun., Jan. 2?,19!2-Sec. 1  1

7Jf SERiES
/

0liVitat-h C

BY ARNOLD PIKE

  `Tile evidence shows that ascorbic
acid decreases the average incidence
' at the common cold . . .`I so wrote'
Dr. Linus Paul@ in his book "Vita-
min C and the Common Cold."

A special teiecast on the research
done by Dr. Pauling and .others on
the properties and function of Vita-
min C in human nutrition will be
seen on "Viewpoint On Nutrition,"
Sunday, Feb. 20, 730 a.m. over
KAEC-TV, Channel 7. The program
featuring Pauling, nutritionist and
author Carlton I? r e d e r i c k s and
motion picture star Eddie Albert
will be repeated at a later date over
RLAS-TV in Las Vegas, WKRC in
Cincinnati, WSEK In Boston, KOGO
in San Diego, KTTV, KTI,h, KBSC
and other stations throughout the
country.

The half-hour telecast delves into
eifectiveuess of Vitamin C in rela-
tionship to the common cold `as
viewed by Pauling and Fredericks.
Af+g carefully reexamining the evi-
de&e and conducting his own tests,
Nobel Prize winner in chemistry
Pauling, found that when properly
used Vitamin C (asborbi cacid) is
thoroughly effective in both the pre-
vention and the alleviation in the
common cold and related diseases.

     Won Nobel Twice
1  Research has been the tool of
PauIing in his many years as profes-
ror of chemistry at Cal Tech and
Stanford University. During these
years he won txvo Nobel Prizes (che-
mistry, 19.54; peacq 1962) and many
other honors, degrees and awards.
--. It ,was Albert Szent-Gyorgyi. a
Hungarian investigator in the fields
of physiolo,T and biochemistry, who
discovered Vitamin C or aecorbic
acid which bx~ the chemical formula
C6H806. He and ot!ler investigators
GUCteC~.I?d ii! !::n:rl;ir" .O 51lE GJbstancc
from plant tlsaues snd from the ad-
renaI glands of animals.

Linus Pauling, left, and Carltoq Fredericks in television studio.

tini hefore Vita&n C was linked
to the cdmmon cold, its reiationship
to the curing and preventionof scur-
vy was established. Scurvy is a dcfi-
+ ciency disease marked by failure of
strength. restlessness, eshaustion,
sallow skin, ulcerating gums, fetid
breath, tissue hemorrhages, pulmon-
arv troubles and eventual death.
Tfie pages of history reveal the high
degree of scurvy in the beginning
days of sea explorations. When Vas-
co da Cama made hi voyage of
discovery of the sea route around
Africa to India 100 of his crew of 160
died of scurvy. Fresh fruit and vege-
tables were scarce in the diets of
sailors of that era.

   V&iabIcs Gathered
It wasn't until Capt. James Cook
ii;ld.his three great Pacific voyages
rluring the period of 1323 to i7EO
that the,.valile of iresh Load became

&dent. Rhemver the ships unde--
hi5 command reached shore as the:,-
traveled from EngIand to ;\ustralia.
he ordered the sailors to gathe:
fruits, vegetables. berries and green
plants. Kettletops and wild le&s
were boiled r;ith wheat and served
at breakfast.

On one trip Cook carried enough
sauerkraut, which is a good source
of Vitamin C, to give his sailqrs as
much as two pounds of it a week.
Not one sailor died of scurvy during
Cook's three long Pacific voyage?
while at the same time crews of oth-
er vessels, without fresh food, were
being ravaged by scurvy. I1 wasn't
e ntil lpi1 that scwv:~ was disvoc-
led to be a def2zier.c:; disease--2,
Beficiencv caused by lack of Vitamin.
C in the diet.

Today; scurvy, complies ted by ot!l-
cr deficiency diseases, is found :n

Please Turn to Page 11, Cc11. 1


Continuc,d from Fir!! Papa ._

poptiIat.ibti deSast&d by
ritarvation and malnutri-
tion, often as a result of
poverty. An intake of
about 10 milligrams per
day of Vitamin C is
enough to provide protec;
tion against scurvy for
most people.
  Up to .lO Grams
`< The optimum intake of
`ascorbic acid, the daily
amount of this food that is
essential for the best of
`health, is not completely
: known at this time. "It is
my opinion that for most
people the optimum daily
intake is somewhere be-
tween 250 mg and 10
grams," states Dr. Pauling
&I his book.
:- "Part of the mechanism
of protection against dis-
ease is the destruction of
bacteria by certain white
cells in the blood, the
phagocytes. In order to be
effective in this way, the
phagocytes must have a
given concentration of as-
corbic acid in them. This !
fact provides a partial ex- ;
planation of the effective-
ness in providing protec-
tion against bacterial in-
, fectiom"
In research by Pauling,
Fredericks and other nu-
t, tritionists, scientists and
rofessional neople, it has
!I een ascertained that Vi-
tamin C is essential for the
; synthesis of collagen--a fi-
L brous protein - connective
tissue which is responsible
for the strength of blood
vessel walIs, bones, skin,
., teeth and other parts of
( the body, A lack.of ascor-
;.bic acid involves a defi-.
!`ciency of connective
tissue. The bleeding which
;appeam. in scurvy, for in- i
stance, 1s a consequence of 1
this weakness in the inter-
`]@lular substance.
   _.      

Some Unknowns

  The mechanism of the
effectiveness of Vitamin C
against viral infections,
such as the common cold,
is not completely known .
at this time. "I have for-
.mulated the hypothesis
that effectiveness of ascor-i
bit acid in providing pro-!
tection against virus dis-.
eases results from lt funo
tion in the synthesis and
activity of interon in pr*
venting the entry of virus
&rticles into the cell,"
Pauling wrote. :
,The common cold has a
devastating  e f f e c t  on
Americana annualIy with
millions of dollars being
lost not only in wages as a
result of being off the job
but being spent on medi-
. cations to reduce the phy- .
sical discomfort of colds.
Overeating of starches and
sweets, insufficient rest,
emotional tension, overex-
posure to cold tempera-
L tures and temperature va-
riations, lack of essential
amino acids, other nu-
trients, certain minerals
and vitamins including Vi-
tamin C may be contribu-
ting causei to incidence of
colds.
Vitamin C is described in
medical literature as "vir-
tually nontoxic." It is P
food substance found in ci-
trus foods such as oranges,
: grapefruit, pineapples, le-
mons, limes, tomatoes, and
in green leafy vegetables
-  spinach,  mustard
greens, turnip greens as
well as brussel sprouts, as-
paragus, cranberries and
gooseberries.
The ascorbic acid k <food
fs easily destroyed by
cooking at high tempera-
tures or too long. It is easi-
ly oxidized and lost when
orange or other citrus
fruit juices are exposed to
the air such as when a
glass of juice is left uncov-
ered and exposed to the
8ir.

Naeded Daily

  Vitamin C is water solu-
ble and is not stored in the
body like other vitamins
and nutrients: hence, for
optimum health and resis-
tance to colds and other
infections, Vitamin C in
the daily diet is recom-
mended by Pauling and
other authorities including
the Food and Nutrition
Board of the National
Research Council. The
daily diet should include
at least a glass of citrus
juices, fresh if possible,
8ervings of at least one .
green 1 e a f y vegetable,
&earned if possible, as
well aa raw salads af
mixed greens plus protein
in form of meat, ash, poul-
try, dairy products, nuts
or seeds, and whole fruit..
A balanced diet may pr*
vide, depending upon the
quality of the food eaten
and choice of greens and
juices, from 100 to 200 mg
of ascorbic acid.
o An investment in high
Vitamin C intake is, a prof-
itable one," sums up Fre
dericks. `A deficiency car- .
ries penalties which are ir-
reversible. " .

Vitamin C has been a fa-
miliar item in health food
atores for many years and
it has been used in the
form of supplements by
m i 11 i 0 h s  ofAmericans.
How much one needs of it
daily is an individual mat-
ter. Prof. Roger J. Wil-
liams has stressed in many
of his books that It is un-
likely that any one person
f8 exactly the average
.man. In considering the
problem of prdection
against the common cold
or other ailments we must
recognize that people dif-
fer from one another and
so do their nutritional re-..
quirements.

Since the modern diet
includes such processed
and cooked food it often
contains less than the opti-
mum amount of Vitamin
C, according to Pau1ir.g
whqsays "for most people
it is advisable to include
-additional Vitamin C in
,the diet: