Vitamin Myth
2013-07-22 18:59:05.778712+02 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
The Atlantic: The Vitamin Myth: Why We Think We Need Supplements looks at America's love affair with nutrition supplements, and Linus Pauling's role in convincing us that they were useful.
These findings weren't new. Seven previous studies had already shown that vitamins increased the risk of cancer and heart disease and shortened lives. Still, in 2012, more than half of all Americans took some form of vitamin supplements. What few people realize, however, is that their fascination with vitamins can be traced back to one man. A man who was so spectacularly right that he won two Nobel Prizes and so spectacularly wrong that he was arguably the world's greatest quack.
But note that there's a little bit of axe grinding here, the last sentence is:
... In 1994, Linus Pauling died of prostate cancer.
It should be noted that in 1994, Linus Pauling died at the age of 93 of prostate cancer.