Tuesday 11 December 2012

Dr. Linus Pauling and Vitamin C



HH Priya Nath has been in correspondence with a Dr. Linus Pauling of the Linus Pauling Institute in California, America, who has enrolled him as an honorary member of the institute. Linus Pauling had been very helpful during the days when Shri Nathji was said to have cancer, and had suggested that large doses of Vitamin C be given to Shri Nathji.
HH Priya Nath had been giving up to 16 tablets of Celin, Vitamin C, to Shri Nathji every day which totaled 8 grams of Vitamin C as recommended by Dr.Pauling. Only Shri Nathji could swallow the pills with his patience and endurance, because of their bitter taste and stomach upsetting properties.
There were times when Shri Nathji choked on the tablets while swallowing them with water; there were also times when the tablets tasted unbearably bitter and created a burning sensation in Shri Nathji’s throat, and produced great gas and indigestion afterwards. Shri Nathji often wondered whether such large doses should be taken or not, and would say mildly:
“Priyaji, kissee doctor se poochh lenaa chaahiye ke itnee goliyaan leneen bhee chahiyen ke naheen.
“Priyaji we should ask some doctor whether so many tablets should be taken at one time.”
There were no doctors in India who had heard of such large doses of Vitamin C being taken, and they could scarce offer any advice, except the advice to stop them. But HH Priya Nath had faith in the research of Dr. Linus Pauling who appeared to be possessed with a desire to help mankind and was a very humble and selfless person. HH Priya Nath could not afford to give up such a unique remedy for cancer, and for the overall health benefit of Shri Nathji.
Even though Shri Nathji was convinced hat he did not have cancer and his good health had proved the diagnosis wrong, yet HH Priya Nath could not afford to take any risks, and so he continued giving Vitamin C despite its hazards.
Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century. Pauling was one of the founders of the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.
Pauling is the only person to be awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes, one of only four individuals to have won more than one (Marie Curie, John Bardeen and Frederick Sanger are the others) and one of only two people awarded Nobel Prizes in different fields (the Chemistry and Peace prizes), the other being Marie Curie (the Chemistry and Physics prizes).
Pauling was included in a list of the 20 greatest scientists of all time by the magazine New Scientist, with Albert Einstein being the only other scientist from the twentieth century on the list. Pauling is regarded as one of the greatest thinkers and visionaries of the millennium, along with Galileo, Newton, and Einstein. Pauling is notable for the diversity of his interests: quantum mechanics, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, protein structure, molecular biology, and medicine. In all these fields, and especially on the boundaries between them, he made decisive contributions. His work on chemical bonding marks the beginning of modern quantum chemistry, and many of his contributions like hybridization and electronegativity have become part of standard chemistry textbooks. His valence bond approach fell short of accounting quantitatively for some of the characteristics of molecules, such as the paramagnetic nature of oxygen and the color of organometallic complexes, and would later be superseded by the Molecular Orbital Theory of Robert Mulliken. The Valence Bond theory still exists in its modern form and competes with the Molecular Orbital Theory and Density Functional Theory (DFT) for describing the chemical phenomena.  Pauling's work on crystal structure contributed significantly to the prediction and elucidation of the structures of complex minerals and compounds.[citation needed] His discovery of the alpha helix and beta sheet is a fundamental foundation for the study of protein structure.
Pauling's work on the molecular basis of disease and its treatment is being carried on by a number of researchers, notably those at the Linus Pauling Institute, which lists a dozen principal investigators and faculty who study the role of micronutrients and phytochemicals in health and disease.
Pauling's work on vitamin C in his later years generated much interest. He was first introduced to the concept of high-dose vitamin C by biochemist Irwin Stone in 1966. After becoming convinced of its worth, Pauling took 3 grams of vitamin C every day to prevent colds. Excited by his own perceived results, he researched the clinical literature and published Vitamin C and the Common Cold in 1970. He began a long clinical collaboration with the British cancer surgeon Ewan Cameron in 1971 on the use of intravenous and oral vitamin C as cancer therapy for terminal patients. Cameron and Pauling wrote many technical papers and a popular book, Cancer and Vitamin C, that discussed their observations. Pauling made vitamin C popular with the public and eventually published two studies of a group of 100 allegedly terminal patients that claimed vitamin C increased survival by as much as four times compared to untreated patients. Ultimately the negative findings of the Mayo Clinic studies ended general interest in vitamin C as a treatment for cancer. Despite this, Pauling continued to promote vitamin C for treating cancer and the common cold, working with The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential to use vitamin C in the treatment of brain-injured children. He later collaborated with the Canadian physician Abram Hoffer on a micronutrient regimen, including high-dose vitamin C, as adjunctive cancer therapy.
With Arthur B. Robinson and another colleague, Pauling founded the Institute of Orthomolecular Medicine in Menlo Park, California, in 1973, which was soon renamed the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. Pauling directed research on vitamin C, but also continued his theoretical work in chemistry and physics until his death. In his last years, he became especially interested in the possible role of vitamin C in preventing atherosclerosis and published three case reports on the use of lysine and vitamin C to relieve angina pectoris. In 1996, the Linus Pauling Institute moved from Palo Alto, California, to Corvallis, Oregon, to become part of Oregon State University, where it continues to conduct research on micronutrients, phytochemicals (chemicals from plants), and other constituents of the diet in preventing and treating disease.
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Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid, or simply ascorbate (the anion of ascorbic acid), is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. Vitamin C refers to a number of vitamers that have vitamin C activity in animals, including ascorbic acid and its salts, and some oxidized forms of the molecule like dehydroascorbic acid. Ascorbate and ascorbic acid are both naturally present in the body when either of these is introduced into cells, since the forms interconvert according to pH.
Vitamin C is a cofactor in at least eight enzymatic reactions including several collagen synthesis reactions that, when dysfunctional, cause the most severe symptoms of scurvy.  In animals, these reactions are especially important in wound-healing and in preventing bleeding from capillaries. Ascorbate may also act as an antioxidant against oxidative stress. In humans, vitamin C is essential to a healthy diet as well as being a highly effective antioxidant, acting to lessen oxidative stress; Vitamin C acts as an electron donor for important enzymes:
Scurvy is an avitaminosis resulting from lack of vitamin C, since without this vitamin, the synthesised collagen is too unstable to perform its function. In advanced scurvy there are open, suppurating wounds and loss of teeth and, eventually, death. The human body can store only a certain amount of vitamin C, and so the body stores are depleted if fresh supplies are not consumed. The time frame for onset of symptoms of scurvy in unstressed adults on a completely vitamin C free diet, however, may range from one month to more than six months, depending on previous loading of vitamin C.

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