Linus pauling and ascorbic acid vitamin c. What you need to know about Linus Pauling and his vitamin theory Pauling the scientist

Linus Pauling and

Ascorbic acid - vitamin C

(1901 - 1994) Pauling's name is included in the list of the 20 greatest scientists of all time, compiled by a survey of scientists (along with Galileo, Newton, Darwin and Einstein). Only two people - Pauling and Einstein - represent the passing century in this list. Pauling is a scientist of rare breadth of interest and depth of knowledge. According to Einstein, he is a "true genius".

Everyone knows that some substances necessary for a person are not synthesized in the body, but come from outside. First of all, these are vitamins and essential amino acids, the most important components of good nutrition. But few people ask themselves the question: how is it that more than a dozen absolutely essential substances are not synthesized in our body? After all, lichens and lower fungi live on a minimum of organic matter and create everything they need in their own biochemical kitchen. Why don't we do that?

Substances that are obtained in the external environment (which means that they can act irregularly or completely disappear) would hardly occupy important "posts" in metabolism. Probably, our ancestors were able to synthesize both vitamins and all amino acids. Later, the genes encoding the necessary enzymes were damaged by mutations, but the mutants did not die if they found food that made up for the deficiency. They even gained an advantage over their wild relatives: digesting food and removing waste products requires less energy than de novo synthesis of a useful substance. Trouble began only with a change in diet ...

Obviously, something similar happened with other species. In addition to humans and great apes, other studied primates (for example, squirrel monkey, rhesus monkey), guinea pigs, some bats, and 15 species of birds cannot synthesize ascorbic acid. And in many other animals (including rats, mice, cows, goats, cats and dogs) everything is in order with ascorbic acid.

It is interesting that both among guinea pigs and among people there are individuals who do well without ascorbic acid or need much less of it. The most famous of these people is Antonio Pythagegga, companion and chronicler of Magellan. In his ship's log, it is noted that during the trip on the flagship Trinidad, 25 out of 30 people fell ill with scurvy, while Pythagegga himself, "thank God, did not experience such an illness." Modern experiments with volunteers have also shown that there are people with a reduced need for vitamin C: they do not eat fruits or greens on duty and feel good. It is possible that corrections occurred in their genes that returned activity, or other mutations appeared that allow them to more fully absorb vitamin C from food. But for now, let's remember the main thing: the need for ascorbic acid is individual

The conversion of ascorbic acid to dehydroascorbate is necessary for the normal course of some of the most important cellular reactions. The effect of vitamin C as a stimulant of the immune system is not yet fully understood, but the fact of stimulation is beyond doubt.

A bit of biochemistry

Why is this irreplaceable substance needed at all? The main role of ascorbic acid (more precisely, ascorbate ion, since this acid dissociates in our internal environment) is participation in the hydroxylation of biomolecules (Fig. 1). In many cases, in order for an enzyme to attach an OH group to a molecule, the ascorbate ion must simultaneously be oxidized to dehydroascorbate. (That is, vitamin C does not work catalytically, but is consumed like other reagents.)

The most important reaction that vitamin C provides is collagen synthesis. From this protein, in fact, our body is woven. Collagen strands and meshes form connective tissues, collagen is found in the skin, bones and teeth, in the walls of blood vessels and the heart, in the vitreous body of the eyes. And in order for all this armature to be assembled from the precursor protein, procollagen, certain amino acids in its chains (proline and lysine) must receive OH groups. When there is not enough ascorbic acid, there is a deficiency of collagen: the growth of the body, the renewal of aging tissues, and the healing of wounds stop. As a result - scurvy ulcers, tooth loss, damage to the walls of blood vessels and other terrible symptoms.

Another reaction in which ascorbate is involved, the conversion of lysine to carnitine, takes place in the muscles, and carnitine itself is necessary for muscle contractions. Hence fatigue and weakness in C-avitaminosis. In addition, the body uses the hydroxylating action of ascorbate to convert harmful compounds into harmless ones. So, vitamin C contributes very well to the removal of cholesterol from the body: the more vitamin a person takes, the faster cholesterol is converted into bile acids. Similarly, bacterial toxins are eliminated faster.

The reverse process - the reduction of ascorbate from dehydroascorbate - is apparently associated with the action of synergistic vitamins C (that is, they enhance the effect of taking it): many of these vitamins, such as E, have reducing properties. Interestingly, the reduction of ascorbate from semidehydroascorbate is also involved in a very important process: the synthesis of dopamine, norepinephrine, and adrenaline from tyrosine.

Finally, vitamin C causes physiological effects, the mechanism of which is not yet fully understood, but their presence has been clearly demonstrated. The most famous of these is the stimulation of the immune system. An increase in the number of lymphocytes, and the fastest movement of phagocytes to the site of infection (if the infection is local), and some other factors contribute to the strengthening of the immune response. It is shown that in the patient's body with regular intake of vitamin C, the production of interferon increases.

From cancer to hay fever

From what was said in the previous chapter, it is easy to calculate what diseases vitamin C should prevent. We will not talk about scurvy, because we hope that it does not threaten our readers. (Although even in developed countries, people sometimes get scurvy. The reason, as a rule, is not the lack of money for fruits, but the laziness and indifference of the patient. Oranges, of course, are expensive, but currants in summer and sauerkraut in winter have not yet ruined anyone.)

However, scurvy is an extreme case of beriberi C. The need for this vitamin increases in many other cases. Strengthening the immune response and active collagen synthesis is the healing of wounds and burns, and postoperative rehabilitation, and inhibition of the growth of malignant tumors. As you know, in order to grow, tumors secrete the enzyme hyaluronidase into the intercellular space, which “looses” the surrounding tissues. By accelerating the synthesis of collagen, the body could counteract this assault, localize the tumor and, perhaps, even stifle it in the collagen networks.

Of course, a simple and widely available remedy for cancer does not inspire confidence. But it must be emphasized that Pauling himself never urged cancer patients to replace all types of therapy with shock doses of ascorbic acid, but suggested using both. And it would be criminal not to try a remedy that could theoretically help. Back in the 1970s, Pauling and the Scottish physician Ivan Cameron conducted several series of experiments at the Vail of Leven clinic in Loch Lomondside. The results were so impressive that Cameron soon ceased to single out a “control group” among his patients - he considered it immoral for the sake of the purity of the experiment to deprive people of a medicine that proved its suitability. The action of overdose of ascorbic acid in eight types of cancer. In the control group, no one was saved, and among the patients of Pauling and Cameron there are those who have recovered

Similar results were obtained by Dr. Fukumi Morishige in Japan, at the oncology clinic in Fukuoka. According to Cameron, in 25% of patients who received 10 g of ascorbic acid per day at an advanced stage of cancer, tumor growth slowed down, in 20% the tumor ceased to change, in 9% it regressed, and in 1% complete regression was observed. Pauling's ideological opponents sharply criticize his work in this area, but dozens of human lives are a weighty argument.

Everyone knows about the treatment of influenza and colds "according to Pauling". Regular intake of large doses of ascorbic acid reduces the incidence. Overdoses at the first symptoms prevent the disease, and overdoses taken late make it easier. No one seriously argues with these provisions of Pauling. Disputes are only about how many percent and under what conditions of admission the percentage of sick people decreases and recovery is accelerated. (We'll talk about this later.) A decrease in temperature after taking vitamin C is caused by its anti-inflammatory effect - inhibition of the synthesis of specific signaling substances, prostaglandins. (So ​​victims of hay fever and other allergy sufferers may also benefit from ascorbic acid.)

Many antihistamines, such as aspirin, work in a similar way. . With one "but": the synthesis of one of the prostaglandins, namely PGE1, ascorbic acid does not inhibit, but stimulates. Meanwhile, it is he who enhances specific immunity.

Daily dose according to the Ministry of Health and according to the gorilla

In a word, even the most implacable opponents of Pauling do not doubt that vitamin C is good for health. There has been a fierce debate for more than thirty years only about the amount in which it should be taken.

First of all, where did the generally accepted norms come from - daily doses of vitamin C, which appear in encyclopedias and reference books? The US Academy of Sciences recommended daily allowance for an adult male is 60 mg. Our norms vary depending on gender, age and profession of a person: 60 - 110 mg for men and 55 - 80 for women. With these and large doses, there is neither scurvy nor pronounced hypovitaminosis (fatigue, bleeding gums). According to statistics, in people who consume at least 50 mg of vitamin C, signs of old age appear 10 years later than in those whose consumption does not reach this minimum (the dependence here is not smooth, but jumpy).

However, the minimum and optimal dose are not the same thing, and if a person does not have scurvy, this does not mean that he is completely healthy. We, unfortunate mutants, unable to provide ourselves with this vital substance, should be happy with any amount of it. But how much vitamin C is needed for complete happiness?

The content of ascorbic acid in the body (as well as other substances necessary for all organs and tissues) is often expressed in milligrams per unit weight of the animal. In the body of a rat, 26 - 58 mg of ascorbic acid is synthesized per kilogram. (Fortunately, there are no such large rats, but in kilograms it is more convenient to compare data for different species.) If converted to the average weight of a person (70 kg), this will give 1.8 - 4.1 g - an order of magnitude closer to Pauling than official standards! Similar data were obtained for other animals.

The gorilla, which, like us, is defective in the synthesis of ascorbic acid, but, unlike us, sits on a vegetarian diet, consumes about 4.5 g of vitamin C per day. (True, it must be borne in mind that the average gorilla weighs more average person.) And if a person strictly adhered to a plant-based diet, he would receive from two to nine grams of ascorbic acid for his 2500 calories necessary for life. Eating one currant and fresh pepper, you can eat all 15 grams. It turns out that "horse doses" are quite physiological and correspond to the usual healthy metabolism.

However, most people have less free time than gorillas. Business will not allow us to chew on low-calorie fresh greens, vegetables and fruits all day long. And a vegetarian diet containing cooked foods will not improve the situation. The usual full-fledged daily diet without raw food and other heroism gives only about 100 mg. Even if you put cabbage salad in a bowl and wash it down with orange juice.

Thus, modern city dwellers have no other choice but to take additional vitamin C. We fell into the trap set by evolution - first we lost our own mechanism for the synthesis of ascorbic acid, and then we learned to hunt and set foot on the path of civilization, which led us away from greens and fruits, laid high primates, directly to scurvy and flu. But the same achievements of civilization gave us biochemistry and organic synthesis, which allows us to obtain cheap and commonly available vitamins. Why not take advantage of this?

"Any drug in large doses becomes a poison. Physicians have long known hypervitaminosis - diseases caused by an excess of vitamin in the body. It is likely that Pauling's patient, starting to be treated for one disease, will earn another." This is a fundamental question for Pauling. In his books, he often recalls how in the 60s, while studying the biochemistry of mental illness, he learned about the work of Canadian doctors who gave shock doses of vitamin B3 (up to 50 g per day) to patients with schizophrenia. Pauling drew attention to the paradoxical combination of properties: high biological activity with minimal toxicity. At the same time, he called vitamins and similar compounds "orthomolecular substances" to distinguish them from other drugs that do not fit so easily into natural metabolism.

Vitamins in general, and ascorbic acid in particular, writes Pauling, are much less toxic than common cold remedies. Dozens of people are poisoned to death by aspirin every year, but not a single case of ascorbic acid poisoning has been observed. As for the excess in the body: hypervitaminosis A, D have been described, but no one has yet described hypervitaminosis C. The only unpleasant effect when it is used in large doses is a laxative effect.

"Excess ascorbic acid promotes stone formation, is harmful to the liver, reduces insulin production. Treatment with overdose of ascorbic acid cannot be used if the patient needs to maintain an alkaline urine reaction." Talk about the dangers of vitamin C is still going on at the level of emotional opposition of "pills" and "natural". There was not a single correct, well-designed experiment that would convincingly demonstrate this harm. And in cases where for some reason it is undesirable to take large doses of an acidic substance, you can take, for example, sodium ascorbate. (It is easy to prepare by dissolving a portion of ascorbic acid in a glass of water or juice and, after "extinguishing" it with soda, immediately drink it.) Ascorbate is just as cheap and just as effective, and its reaction is alkaline.

"It makes no sense to take the huge doses of vitamin C that Pauling recommends, since the excess is still not absorbed, but is excreted from the body in the urine and feces." Indeed, when ascorbic acid is consumed in small amounts (up to 150 mg per day), its concentration in the blood is approximately proportional to consumption (about 5 mg / liter for every 50 mg swallowed), and as the dose increases, this concentration increases more slowly, but the content of ascorbate in the urine increases. . But it cannot be otherwise. The primary urine filtered in the renal tubules is in equilibrium with the blood plasma, and many valuable substances enter it - not only ascorbate, but also, for example, glucose. Then the urine is concentrated, water is reabsorbed, and special molecular pumps return all valuable substances that are a pity to lose, including ascorbate, to the bloodstream. With the consumption of about 100 mg of ascorbic acid per day, more than 99% returns to the blood. Obviously, the operation of the pump provides the most complete assimilation of doses close to the minimum: a further increase in power is too high for evolutionary standards.

It is clear that the greater the initial (immediately after digestion of food) concentration of ascorbic acid in the blood, the greater the loss. But still, even at doses of more than 1 gram, three-quarters of the vitamin is absorbed, and at huge "Pauling" doses (more than 10 grams), about 38% of the vitamin remains in the blood. In addition, ascorbic acid in urine and feces prevents the development of colon and bladder cancer.

"Overdose of ascorbic acid prevents conception, and in pregnant women can cause miscarriage." We give the floor to Linus Pauling himself. "The basis for such claims was a short note by two doctors from the Soviet Union, Samborskaya and Ferdman (1966). They reported that twenty women aged 20 to 40 years with a delay of menstruation from 10 to 50 days were orally given 6 g of ascorbic acid on each of three consecutive days and that 16 of them started menstruating after that I wrote Samborskaya and Ferdman a letter asking if they had taken any pregnancy test, but instead of replying they sent me another copy of their article" .

This is how myths are born. And in America, ascorbic acid in combination with bioflavonoids and vitamin K is prescribed just to prevent miscarriage. Ascorbic acid in large doses is also used to prevent pregnancy overshoot, in the last weeks of the term. But in these cases, its action is rather normalizing than vice versa. And normally, a pregnant woman really needs ascorbic acid: when a child grows, collagen synthesis is in full swing. Back in 1943, it was found that the concentration of ascorbate in the blood of the umbilical cord is about four times higher than the concentration in the blood of the mother: a growing organism selectively “sucks out” the right substance. For expectant mothers, even official medicine recommends an increased rate of ascorbic acid (for example, tablets for pregnant and lactating women "Lady's formula" contain 100 mg of it). And even Russian doctors sometimes advise pregnant women to take ascorbic acid so as not to get sick with the flu: at the first, weakest symptoms or after contact with the patient - one and a half grams, on the second and third day - one gram.

One tablet per cigarette

So, the rate of ascorbic acid according to Pauling is 6 - 18 g per day. But still six or eighteen? Why such a spread and how much should you personally take?

The attentive reader, of course, drew attention to the discrepancy in the previous chapter: if every 50 mg of ascorbic acid increases its concentration in the blood by 5 mg / liter, and the blood volume in a person is 4 - 6 liters, then why is it said about 99% assimilation? In fact, everything is correct: about half of vitamin C is immediately absorbed by the cells and tissues that need it. But how do you know exactly how much vitamin they need? We said that the need for ascorbic acid is purely individual. It depends on body weight, and on physical activity, and on the state of health of the patient, and on his personal biochemical characteristics (for example, on how effective the reabsorption mechanism is).

The scientific method is a stress test: take a certain amount of ascorbic acid (say, 1 g) and then measure its concentration in the urine for 6 hours. So you can determine how intensively the tissues absorb the vitamin and what proportion of it remains in the body. For most people, 20-25% will end up in the urine. But if there is no ascorbic acid> / I> in the urine at all or there is very little, this means that a person needs a large dose.

An easier way is to take the daily dose at one time and increase it until you feel a laxative effect. Pauling believes that this "limit of intestinal tolerance" clearly correlates with the body's true need for ascorbic acid. (Unfortunately, Pauling does not say how to correct those who have problems with stool without ascorbic acid.) Usually the effect occurs in the range of 4-15 grams, but seriously ill people can consume much more.

Interestingly, in the same person, the need for ascorbic acid varies depending on whether he is healthy or sick. An increased need for ascorbic acid is observed in bacterial infections, mental illness, and in heavy smokers. It has been experimentally shown that each smoked cigarette destroys 2.5 mg of vitamin C. And then, gentlemen, smokers, consider for yourself how much you owe your body for half a pack a day ...

An important note: those who have started taking large doses of vitamin C should keep in mind that it is undesirable to stop taking it - it can make you feel worse (Pauling himself calls this the "rollback effect"). But isn't it better to get into a biochemical dependence on a vitamin than on cigarettes and alcohol?

In general, whether or not we agree with Pauling about overdoses, his argument helps to face the truth. Naturally, together with food, we, workaholics of troubled times, will not receive even the minimum required amount of ascorbic acid. At least one yellow pill must be taken.

Reminder:

vitamin C in foods is destroyed faster when heated with air access, in an alkaline environment, and also when in contact with even negligible amounts of iron and especially copper. Therefore, try to use enamelware; it is better to knead the berries with a wooden spoon than to rub through a sieve or twist in a meat grinder. It is not bad to add a pinch of citric acid to the compote. In meals high in protein or starch, vitamin C is better preserved, as proteins bind copper.

Vitamin C is also reduced due to exposure to light, smoking and caffeine.

Or why you can not abuse vitamins and all sorts of additives.

On October 10, 2011, researchers at the University of Minnesota found that women who took multivitamin supplements had a higher mortality rate than those who did not. Two days later, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found that men who take vitamin E are at greater risk of developing prostate cancer. "It's been a tough week for vitamins," Carrie Gann told ABC News.

There was nothing new in the results obtained. Seven previous studies have already shown that vitamins increase the risk of cancer and heart disease, as well as reduce life expectancy. However, in 2012 more than half of all Americans were taking vitamin supplements. At the same time, few people are aware that one person stood at the origins of the passion for vitamins. This man was so clearly right that he received a Nobel Prize, and also so clearly wrong that he can probably be considered the world's biggest charlatan.

In 1931, Linus Pauling published an article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society under the title "The Nature of the Chemical Bond". Prior to this publication, chemists were aware of two types of chemical bonds: ionic, in which one atom donates its electron to another atom, and covalent, in which atoms share electrons. Pauling argued that things are not so simple - the overall possession of electrons, in his opinion, should be located somewhere between ionic and covalent bonds. Pauling's idea revolutionized the field by merging quantum physics with chemistry. His concept was, in fact, so revolutionary that the editor of the journal, having received the manuscript of the article, could not find anyone who could write a review on it. When Albert Einstein was asked what he thought of Pauling's work, he shrugged his shoulders and replied, "It was too hard for me."

For this article alone, Pauling was awarded the Langmuir Prize as the most outstanding young chemist in the United States, he became the youngest member of the National Academy of Sciences, was appointed a full professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and, in addition, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Pauling was 30 at the time.

In 1949, Pauling published an article in the journal Science titled "Sickle Cell Anemia, a Molecular Disease". At the time, scientists knew that hemoglobin (a protein in the blood that transports oxygen) crystallizes in the cells of people suffering from sickle cell anemia, which causes joint pain, blood clotting, and death. But they didn't understand why this was happening. Pauling was the first to show that sickle-shaped hemoglobin has a slightly different electrical charge, and this quality significantly affects how hemoglobin interacts with oxygen. Pauling's discoveries gave birth to a scientific field called molecular biology.

I have repeatedly written about dietary supplements, vitamins and other food additives that are currently crammed with both the shelves and the minds of very, very many people.

At the same time, the population was quite successfully fortified, since children's and school meals, therapeutic diets, and soldier's rations were already compiled taking into account the importance of various vitamins, and vitamin-mineral complexes were sold in pharmacies. In general, everything was boring, predictable and without excitement.

Until He showed up. The one who, in a good way, in every pharmacy would have to put a monument in full growth, because the income that he brought to pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers of bioadditives ... But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's get to know him first.

Great Vitaminizer

The name of Linus Pauling by the end of the 60s of the XX century sounded louder than the names of Jobs and Gates sound today. He was an internationally recognized genius, an archangel of science, a prophet of the natural sciences.

One of the founders of molecular biology, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954, he also surrounded himself with the glory of a great humanist, fighting the proliferation of nuclear weapons and becoming one of the main initiators of the signing of the nuclear test ban treaty between the USA, the USSR and Great Britain. For this, he was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962.

Fantastic wagon, chemist, physician, biologist, philosopher and politician - Pauling also had a remarkable literary and oratorical gift. In general, a superman from laboratories, equally revered by both the layman and the scientific community. Unfortunately for his reputation, he lived a very long life - 94 years. And in 1966 he was only 65 years old - the most, one might say, heyday.

And just in that year, Pauling caught a cold. His doctor, Irving Stone, recommended that the scientist take three grams of ascorbic acid per day, as he believed that additional vitamin C would not interfere with the body weakened by the disease. So the great scientist got hooked on ascorbic acid. Immediately after the first dose, he felt better, after a few days he was already healthy.

And then Pauling went overboard. He believed. I believed in the great healing power of vitamin C. I must say that it is not good to believe in a scientist at all, a scientist must be a terrible skeptic. The scientific method itself is based on the fact that any "two times two equals four" needs to be proven. There is not and cannot be anything obvious in the world, any evidence requires confirmation.

That is, based on the principles of scientific thinking, Pauling should have said: “I took ascorbic acid, I feel better. And this can only mean one thing: in this particular case, this particular pill did not prevent this particular me from feeling good. And any other hypotheses in this regard can be tried to prove.

But the personal experience of a genius, accustomed to the constancy of his rightness, allowed him to do an unforgivable thing - to write and publish a work that could not withstand scientific criticism. The book was called Vitamin C and the Cold. In it, Pauling ardently urged everyone to take one or two grams of ascorbic acid every day so as not to catch a cold and generally feel good, and at the same time not to neglect other vitamins.

In the text, Pauling admitted that he "does not understand the detailed mechanism of the effect of ascorbic acid on resistance to colds," but this is not important, since he is deeply confident in the correctness of his recommendation.

To say that the scientific community went crazy when they got acquainted with the work of a genius is putting it mildly. From a scientific point of view, it was a text that differed little from the works of the adherents of the "harmonization of the elements of acidity."

But all the other members of society went into ecstasy. The book, written in simple, clear and even fascinating language, became a bestseller for a long time, stocks of ascorbic acid were swept off the shelves of pharmacies, and pharmacists, gardeners and juice producers did not get tired of mentally kissing Linus Pauling's footprints. Everything began to be vitaminized. Even popcorn and chips. Mankind rushed to eat vitamins in barrels.

Politicians, businessmen and public figures had no doubt that we were dealing with yet another ingenious epiphany of the super mind. In 1973, the Linus Pauling Medical Institute of Science in Palo Alto was established, with Pauling serving as president. In 1979, in collaboration with a colleague, Pauling published a second book - "Cancer and Vitamin C", in which it was convincingly but, alas, just as unprovenly stated that vitamin C is an excellent tool for fighting cancer, both as a preventive measure and during illness.

This book was also bought in millions of copies. The saddest thing is that she started to do harm. Some patients, for example, were now refusing chemotherapy and operations, preferring to these unpleasant and dangerous procedures the cozy consumption of five grams (Pauling's recommended dose) of ascorbic acid per day.

And it's one thing if generally healthy people drink vitamins in horse doses: unlike fat-soluble vitamin A or, say, D, vitamin C dissolves in water and is easily excreted from the body, so its overdose is not too dangerous *. What if they are sick?

* - Phacochoerus Funtik's note:
“But if you eat the liver of a polar bear, then you can die from an overdose of vitamin A. Beautiful death, right? Moreover, as long as you get this liver, there is a chance for an even more spectacular option. ”

Refusals of cancer patients from treatment caused a lot of dissatisfaction, especially since the observation of cancer patients taking "ascorbic therapy" did not show any improvement in their condition. And then, it seems, the word "charlatan" was first heard.

But Pauling did not think to stop. He created and developed the theory of orthomolecular medicine, which he defined as "the right molecules in the right amounts." Vitamins, amino acids, minerals and bioactive supplements, according to this theory, can treat everything from mental disorders to HIV.

The main thing is to choose the right dose for a particular patient. And yes, theoretically - even bestow immortality. Although Pauling did not go so far in his promises, it was already done for him by supporters and followers, which consisted mostly of journalists and simply caring citizens.

cleaning up after a genius

The complexity of the position of the scientific community was explained by the fact that it is often even more difficult to refute an unproven version than to prove it. And the argument “Where did you even get this, idiot?” in the case of Pauling did not work: the guy had a painfully powerful initial reputation.

Well, a brilliant insight happened, and you already sort it out. The disentanglement is still going on, but at the moment it is already safe to say: "Pauling, you're wrong." Numerous and long-term observations have not found a relationship between the intake of dietary supplements and the health status of patients.

In 2009, the journal Arch Intern Med finally published a gigantic synthesis report of 161,000 people, which found that “multivitamin supplementation has little or no effect on cancer risk, cardiovascular disease, or mortality in postmenopausal women.” ".

The common cold is being dealt with by another group of researchers. HIV is the third. Children's psychoses - the fourth. Etc. Hundreds and thousands of control studies on dozens of substances and hundreds of diseases. Forrest Bennet, one of the participants in the “big cleanup”, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (American Academy of Pediatrics), said: “Sometimes it seems to me that they (supporters of the theory of orthomolecular medicine and Linus Pauling personally. - Approx. numerous inferences from the ceiling.

Pauling died in 1994, having finally enjoyed his status as a lunatic in scientific circles and an atmosphere of adoration among less demanding citizens.

And it is not known how many more decades it will take to convince the population to stop consuming dietary supplements in such overwhelming quantities. For example, according to the US Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research, in 2004, 3% of US residents took ultra-high doses of vitamins.

And this is completely useless, since even water-soluble vitamins can bring oneself to hypervitaminosis, which, in turn, leads to such troubles as coronary circulation disorders, hypertension, thrombophlebitis, liver toxicosis, spontaneous abortions and fetal abnormalities in women, gout, jaundice etc.

What are you going to do now?

To understand that yes, vitamins are an important part of nutrition, our body actually does not know how to produce them on its own, apart from a couple of the most overwhelming ones. But the fact is that we need them very, very little. Given a sufficiently varied diet, you can forget about vitamin-mineral complexes, and, of course, you don’t have to take them in handfuls, even if your district doctor strongly recommended this to you.

No, no, we do not accuse your local doctor of criminal conspiracy with dietary supplement manufacturers. It's just that he most likely grew up and studied at a time when Pauling's name was aspirated, and the gigantic doses of vitamins and minerals he recommended were not yet officially recognized as top-notch nonsense.

Just from myself I will add only one phrase. District and other doctors, indeed, are fed with might and main by manufacturers of dietary supplements. The author just doesn't know. Well, stupidity, of course, also plays a role. I have everything for today.

One of the most famous American chemists is Linus Pauling. His biography is of interest not only to residents of the United States, but also to people around the world. No wonder, because he researched vitamins - dietary supplements so popular today. And I must say, Linus Carl Pauling came up with interesting results. It is about this scientist, who won two Nobel Prizes, that we will talk about today.

Origin and Childhood of Linus Pauling

Linus Pauling, whose photo and biography are presented in the article, was born in Portland on February 28, 1901. The boy's father was a pharmacist (pictured below), and his mother was a housewife. When Linus was 9 years old, his father died. Because of this, the family had a hard time financially.

Linus grew up as a reserved and thoughtful child. He could observe insects for a long time, but Pauling was especially attracted to minerals. He was fascinated and attracted by the world of colored stones. This passion for crystals sometimes manifested itself in adulthood: the scientist studied several minerals, based on the theory that he created.

At the age of 13, Pauling first visited a chemical laboratory. What he saw there made a great impression on him. Linus decided to start experimenting immediately. He borrowed the "chemical" utensils from his mother's kitchen, and his own room became a research space.

College education

Pauling never graduated from high school, which did not prevent him from enrolling in the Oregon Agricultural College, which later became the University of Oregon. During the training, Linus became seriously interested in And in the evenings and nights he had to earn a living. Pauling worked in a restaurant as a dishwasher and also sorted paper in a printing house.

Linus studied brilliantly. The prodigy was noticed by teachers and in the penultimate year they offered him to become an assistant. So Pauling began working in the Department of Quantitative Analysis. A year later, he became an assistant in mechanics, chemistry and materials.

Defense of a doctoral dissertation, the beginning of a career as a scientist

Linus Pauling in 1922 became a bachelor of science (chemical engineering). To work on his doctoral dissertation, he was invited to the California Institute of Technology, located in Pasadena. He brilliantly defended the work in 1925.

The young scientist began to make a career at the Institute of Technology. He became an assistant professor already in 1927, an associate professor in 1929. In 1931, Pauling was already a professor of chemistry.

Study of X-ray crystallography

During this time, he acquired important skills in X-ray crystallography. Linus read x-rays with ease, as if he could see the atomic structure of matter with his own eyes. This knowledge brought the scientist closer to the nature of the chemical bond - the main field of study for the rest of his life. He went to Europe, where he visited famous scientists: in Munich - A. Sommerfeld, in Zurich - in Copenhagen - N. Bora.

Theory of hybridization (resonance)

In 1928, Linus put forward his theory of hybridization (in other words, the theory of resonance). It was a real breakthrough in structural chemistry. At that time, the problem of reflecting the structure and properties of a compound in a chemical formula was still unresolved. Despite the fact that scientists agreed to use a dash to indicate a valence bond, many ambiguities arose. The fact is that in reality everything turned out to be more complicated than the schemes drawn on paper.

Soon additional designations were needed. In particular, if the bond was polar, this was indicated by an additional arrow; if it was ionic, minuses and pluses were additionally placed above the atoms. However, that didn't help much either. It turned out that for an adequate representation of the properties and structure of many molecules, especially complex ones, it was necessary to resort to several structural formulas. In particular, for benzene, as many as five were needed. Since each was considered separately, none of them could accurately describe the properties and structure of this aromatic compound.

The idea proposed by Pauling was that the molecule is the result of resonance, that is, the superposition of several structures on top of each other. Moreover, each of these structures describes various features of the chemical properties and structure of the molecule.

In 1939, Linus published The Nature of the Chemical Bond. The scientist applied quantum theory to solve various problems facing science. This allowed him to explain many disparate facts from a unified theoretical standpoint.

New discoveries

Linus Pauling in the second half of the 1930s investigated the structure of molecules based on the theory of resonance. He was also interested in antibodies, in particular their ability to provide immunity. The scientist made a number of discoveries in the field of virology, immunology and biochemistry. For example, he studied the hemoglobin molecule. Linus Pauling in 1951 published the first description of the three-dimensional molecular structure of proteins (co-authored with R. Korn). It was obtained on the basis of X-ray crystallography data.

Attitude towards Pauling's theory in the USSR

Pauling's theory caused a real storm in the USSR. In our country, after the defeat of linguists, cyberneticists and geneticists, they took up quantum mechanics, and then chemistry became the target of the NKVD. Pauling's resonance theory, as well as K. Ingold's mesomerism theory, related to it, were the main targets of attacks. The Soviet Union declared that Pauling's ideas of a real molecule as an average between two or more extreme abstract structures were idealistic and bourgeois. On June 11, 1951, an All-Union Conference was held, at which the problems of chemical structure were considered. At this event, the theory of resonance was crushed.

Nobel Prizes and other achievements of Pauling

However, Linus' achievements were duly appreciated abroad. Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954 for his study of the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the study of the structure of compounds. And in 1962, the scientist received this award for the second time - as a fighter for peace.

Pauling is the author of about 250 scientific publications and many books, including a textbook on modern chemistry, unique in its depth and simplicity of presentation. In 1948, for achievements in science, he became the head of the American Chemical Society, and was also elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and many other scientific societies in various countries.

Peacemaking activities

Deeply aware of the threat posed to mankind by atomic weapons, Linus began to actively fight against the creation of new nuclear weapons. This scientist was among the initiators of the Pugwash movement. Pauling in 1957 handed over an appeal signed by 11,021 scientists representing 49 countries of the world. In the 1958 book No War! Linus Pauling expressed his pacifist views.

In June 1961, the scientist, together with his wife, convened a conference in Norway (Oslo), the theme of which was countering the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Despite Linus's appeals to Nikita Khrushchev, in September of the same year, the USSR resumed testing. And in March of the following year, the United States did the same. Then the scientist began to carry out dosimetric control of radioactivity. Pauling in October 1962 circulated the information that its level had doubled compared to the previous 16 years. In addition, Pauling drafted a treaty to ban such tests. In July 1963 the USSR, USA and Great Britain signed it.

The scientist stopped working at the California Institute of Technology in 1963 and began to work at the Center for Research on Public Institutions, located in Santa Barbara. Here he began to deal with the problems of war and peace. Linus carried out a number of experiments on the threat of radioactive contamination. The scientist found that radioactive elements cause leukemia, bone cancer, thyroid cancer and some other diseases. Despite the fact that Linus was equally active in condemning the governments of the USSR and the United States for the arms race, some conservative politicians questioned his loyalty to the United States.

In 1969, the scientist stopped working where he carried out his research for two years. He did this in protest against the educational policy pursued by R. Reagan. Linus began working as a professor.

Pauling's personal life

In 1922, the scientist married a student at the Oregon Agricultural College, Ava Helen Miller (her photo is shown below). They had a daughter and three sons. Ava Elen died in 1981. After her death, Pauling lived in California, in Big Sur, where their country house was located.

Pauling Orthomolecular Medicine

Pauling is an adherent and promoter of the so-called orthomolecular medicine. Its essence lies in the fact that the treatment is carried out with the help of substances that are present in the human body. The scientist believed that in order to defeat a particular disease, you just need to correctly change their concentration. His Scientific Medical Institute was founded in 1973 to study how to treat and prevent disease by consuming the right doses of beneficial minerals and vitamins. Pauling believed that it was especially important to consume vitamin C in large quantities. In 1979, a book by this scientist called "Cancer and Vitamin C" appeared. It talked about how ascorbic acid helps to cope with this dangerous disease. Linus Pauling "Vitamin C and the common cold" created in the same year. Both of these books met with controversy from the medical community, but became very popular.

Research of ascorbic acid

Dr. Linus Pauling's vitamins became of interest already in old age. The scientist devoted the last 30 years of his life to the study of ascorbic acid and the possibilities of its clinical use and came to the conclusion that its use in large quantities has a positive effect on the human body.

It should be said right away that no vitamins will save you if you lead an unhealthy lifestyle. They can be compared to seat belts. When a person is wearing a seatbelt, it simply protects him in an accident, but is not a guarantee of a safe ride. Vitamins also only give us additional protection. Confirmation of their action is the active and long life of a scientist like Linus Pauling. He took vitamin C in the amount of 18 g per day, and vitamin E (tocopherol) - 800 IU each, starting from the seventh decade. Linus managed to live to be 93 years old! Linus Pauling died in 1994. His brief biography indicates that he did not suffer from serious illnesses.

By the way, even the irreconcilable opponents of this scientist agree that ascorbic acid is good for health. A fierce debate has been going on for many years only about its amount, which should be taken.

What do the statistics say?

The US Academy of Sciences recommends that an adult male take 60 mg of vitamin C daily. Russian norms vary depending on the person's age, gender, and occupation. For men, this is 60-110 mg, for women - 55-80. With these and large quantities, there is neither hypovitaminosis (bleeding gums, fatigue), nor scurvy. In people who consume more than 50 mg of ascorbic acid per day, according to statistics, signs of old age appear 10 years later than the rest.

At the very beginning of the twentieth century, on February 28, 1901, in Portland, Oregon, twice Nobel laureate, laureate of the Soviet Lenin Prize and Peace Prize, chemist and crystallographer Linus Carl Pauling was born. Everyone knows the names of Blaise Pascal or Leonardo da Vinci, who have shown themselves in different fields of knowledge. The twentieth century was also not stingy with the birth of geniuses. Among the twenty greatest scientists of all eras, only two scientists from the twentieth century appear on the list - Einstein and Pauling.

Family

The father of the future scientist, Herman Pauling, was a German immigrant, and his mother, Lucy Isabelle Darling, came from an old Irish family. Linus Pauling grew up with two younger sisters, Pauline and Lucille, while his father was often on the road, as he worked as a salesman for a supplier - a medical company. In 1905, he was able to open his own pharmacy in the city of Condon - in the same place, in Oregon.

This place was located east of the ocean and was rather dry, but the children liked it. There, little Linus Pauling began attending school. He learned to read much earlier and already devoured books with might and main. The father was even worried, observing such an early development of the boy. Therefore, when the family moved to Portland in 1910, he turned to the local newspaper for advice regarding his nine-year-old son, who had already read not only the Bible, but also Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

School

Naturally, school teachers were amazed at the abilities that Linus Pauling showed. He studied remarkably, collected minerals, classified insects, read very, very much. He was especially interested in chemistry. In 1914, he was already setting up complex experiments at his home with a classmate, Lloyd Jeffers.

However, the family was going through quite difficult times financially, and therefore, at first, not everything went smoothly with studies. From time to time I had to interrupt it in order to earn extra money and at least help the family a little. However, he always impressed teachers. Not only in school, but also in the agricultural college, where he entered to become a chemical engineer and where education was free.

Why chemistry?

Linus Carl Pauling took over the propensity for this science from his father, a pharmacist, who prepared a variety of ointments and powders in his pharmacy. It is a pity that he died early, otherwise the boy would not have learned chemistry from textbooks. Moreover, the father perfectly saw what the boy's abilities were and how he was drawn to knowledge. It was my father who replenished the home library with books on chemistry. However, at the age of nine, Linus lost his father. And then the need arose in the family.

From early childhood, the boy worked part-time - he washed dishes in a small cafe, and sorted paper in a printing house, he did not even manage to get a diploma at school. However, in a free college, he showed such extraordinary abilities that he was immediately accepted into the graduate school of the Institute of Technology in California. In 1923, he graduated from it, having received the highest distinction and two scientific degrees - a doctor of chemical sciences and a bachelor in physics. Immediately after graduating from this educational institution, Linus married and was happy with Euwe Miller for fifty-eight years.

First works

A private foundation helped the young scientist with a scholarship, which gave him the opportunity to train for a whole year with European luminaries: in Munich - with Sommerfeld, in Zurich - with Schrödinger, in Copenhagen - with Niels Bohr. Even then, Linus Pauling began to write books, and the first work was published in the thirties on the nature and structure of molecules and crystals. She literally made a revolution in chemistry, and the development of science flowed in the direction set for many years to come.

The book quickly spread around the world, it was translated into many dozens of languages, and Dr. Linus Pauling rightfully became one of the leading scientists of his time. World War II forced a switch from pure science to military science: Pauling invented new types of explosives and rocket fuel, invented an oxygen generator for aircraft and submarines, and also created the synthesis of blood plasma for medical work in the field. The contribution to the fight against fascism was huge and was awarded the medal of the United States. But this recognition did not last long.

Fight for Peace

Linus Pauling received the first Nobel Prize in 1954. Even if he stopped doing science, focusing on explaining the structure of complex molecules, his name would forever remain in the history of science. Naturally, the scientist continued his work, although from year to year it became more and more difficult for him to work in the United States. The fact is that Linus Pauling lost his credibility in his country, speaking out against the use of atomic weapons after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The scientist began an extensive campaign while on the national security commission.

Traveling around America, he lectured about this new danger, and in 1946 he founded an anti-war committee composed of nuclear scientists. He told the whole society the truth about the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, proving that testing it in the atmosphere cannot be harmless. His calculations especially affected the public: fifty-five thousand little Americans will be born disabled, and five hundred thousand will be stillborn, because even in the smallest doses, strontium-90 causes leukemia and bone cancer, and iodine-131 threatens literally everyone with thyroid cancer.

Resonance

A storm arose in the United States, the people were indignant and protested, and the government put Pauling on the list of unreliable citizens, beside themselves with anger, because they had absolutely nothing to refute Pauling's statements. In 1952, he was not allowed to attend the London conference, where he promised to demonstrate the DNA helix, he was simply not given a passport. And so it so happened that the priority in this discovery went to Crick and Watson. However, Pauling was indifferent to this, he continued the fight against nuclear weapons with even greater tenacity.

In 1958, he was declared an agent of the Kremlin because of the appeal, which was signed by eleven thousand scientists from forty-nine countries. At the same time, his new book "No War!" was published, the circulation of which around the world amounted to many millions. In 1960, he collected signatures for an appeal calling for a ban on nuclear testing. Pauling was threatened with prison, but he only laughed in response. Outright bullying began. Rumors were spread that contradicted each other: some shouted that he was working for the USSR, others presented the conclusion of leading psychiatrists that Pauling was out of his mind. And then an event happened that silenced both of them. Linus Pauling received his second Nobel Peace Prize.

Victory

The persecution, however, did not stop. They tried to challenge the opinion of the Nobel Committee and its decision. In the newspapers, Pauling was called nothing more than peacnik - a neologism made up of the English word "world" and the Russian suffix taken from the word "satellite" (which, by the way, ahead of the American ones, has already flown into space). Pauling did not react to all this, he was busy drawing up a treaty to end nuclear tests. And in 1963, the USSR, England and the USA signed this very treaty at the request of the world community.

Of course, no one remembered Linus Pauling himself, politicians got fame here, but it was he who saved millions of lives. In the meantime, the rebellious scientist's ability to continue his scientific work dried up, since no one now provided financial support to the fighter for peace. The scientist considered it more important to continue social activities, and in 1965 he signed another seditious document. It was a declaration of civil disobedience over the Vietnam War. It was all Linus Pauling.

vitamins

The scientist was forced to leave the University of California and moved to Stafford, but government officials did not leave him alone. Pauling's health deteriorated rapidly. Genetically, he was clearly not born a long-liver, his father died at thirty-four, his mother - at forty-five. And sick kidneys in those days was a death sentence. The strict diet didn't help. However, Pauling wouldn't be Pauling if he didn't find a way out. In 1966, he already received a medal for the unification of medical and biological sciences. On the advice of biochemists, including Irving Stone, he began taking vitamin C. There was already a notion that it was not bacteria and viruses that killed people.

It's just that almost all mammals, except monkeys and humans, are able to synthesize ascorbic acid in the body, and the liver produces it in exact proportion to body weight. And again Linus Pauling made the calculations: vitamins for an adult should be about ten to twelve grams per day. With food, he receives two hundred times less. He tried this method, of course, on himself. The colds have stopped.

Again against the current

In 1970 Pauling's new book on vitamin C and the common cold came out and became an instant bestseller. The US Academy of Sciences recommended only 0.06 grams of vitamin C per day for an adult male, while Pauling recommended six to eighteen healthy grams. That is, a hundred times more.

The dose should be individual, and it is easy to calculate it: increase little by little until the intestines rebel. Practitioners were wary of this technique, but the Americans believed, and within two weeks the stocks of ascorbic acid ran out in pharmacies. But expensive drugs, even those that were advertised very widely, were almost completely sold out. The pharmaceutical companies were furious.