The Man Who Convinced Us We Needed Vitamin Supplements

An anonymous reader writes "The Atlantic has an interesting piece on the life and work of the scientist most responsible for moms around the world giving their kids Vitamin C tablets to fight off colds, Linus Pauling. From the article: 'On October 10, 2011, researchers from the University of Minnesota found that women who took supplemental multivitamins died at rates higher than those who didn't. Two days later, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic found that men who took vitamin E had an increased risk of prostate cancer. "It's been a tough week for vitamins," said Carrie Gann of ABC News. 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.'"

Comments

Re:Diet and laziness

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Nostalgia? Sounds dangerous. What vitamins does one take to cure it?

Re:Diet and laziness

[Greyfox]

Or ramen. That was a big problem back when I was going through college. Scurvy was making a comeback because college students were trying to live on ramen alone. If all you're eating is ramen, you need a pop tart every so often for vitamin C!*
* Statement not evaluated by the FDA

Re:Diet and laziness

[mrbester]

You need to tenderise leather shoes properly before you eat them. Unfortunately that takes hours and who has the time these days?

Re:Diet and laziness

[gmhowell]

Purple is a fruit.

Re: You need variety

[Anonymous Coward]

Are cats really that delicious? How do you usually cook them?