History of high-dose Vitamin C

Vitamin C therapy is inseparably linked with the name of Linus Pauling (1901-1994), the only winner of two unshared Nobel Prizes in different categories. In fact, it was due to Pauling that vitamin C again moved to the forefront of medical and popular attention in the 1960s. Based on the fact that the human body has lost the ability to produce vitamin C, Pauling hypothesized that we should ingest as much vitamin C as other mammals produce themselves, that is, several grams a day.

Pauling held that vitamin C can prevent or indeed heal many serious diseases. Although his theories have been rejected by many skeptics, the past two decades have yielded many new insights into the therapeutic use and utility of vitamin C.

Vitamin C supplementation has been an intensely researched area since the early 1990s. About 8000 publications focusing on vitamin C have been entered into Medline (the most important medical database) since 1990.

This research has led to the development of high-dose vitamin C supplementation, and physicians and health practitioners have most successfully used this treatment in a number of countries around the globe.

The rationale for high-dose vitamin C is the fact that, in many medical conditions, vitamin C requirements are much greater than can be supplemented via the gastrointestinal tract. Moreover, there are a number of conditions in which absorption through the intestinal lining is reduced further. Therapeutically active vitamin C concentrations can only be attained by administering vitamin C directly into the bloodstream, that is, by injection or infusion.