Linus Pauling — "Vitamin C is the most important of all vitamins."
Vitamin C is the most important of all vitamins.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Linus Pauling
"If there were nobody in the world but politicians, I would feel that there was no hope for mankind, no hope for civilization, no hope for the world."
"I believe that the world is full of wonderful things, and that we should all strive to appreciate them."
"I have spent a good deal of my life trying to get people to eat more vitamin C."
"I have always been an optimist, and I believe that the future is bright."
"I confess that I had harbored the feeling that sooner or later I would be the one to get the DNA structure; and although I was pleased with the double-helix, I 'rather wished the idea had been his'."
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: deepseek
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
Among all vitamins the human body requires, Vitamin C is uniquely critical—not just adequate but paramount. Pauling extended this beyond basic nutrition: he argued that most people are chronically deficient and that megadoses of ascorbic acid could prevent and treat everything from the common cold to cancer, fundamentally redefining vitamin intake from avoiding deficiency disease to actively optimizing health and longevity.
Relevance to Linus Pauling
Pauling won Nobel Prizes in Chemistry (1954) and Peace (1962), but spent his final decades championing orthomolecular medicine. He co-authored 'Vitamin C and the Common Cold' in 1970 and personally consumed grams of ascorbic acid daily. His biochemical expertise gave this claim scientific credibility even as mainstream medicine rejected megadose therapy. The conviction was genuine and consistent, though it ultimately strained his scientific legacy.
The era
Pauling promoted this view through the 1970s and 1980s, when public trust in pharmaceutical institutions was eroding after thalidomide and Vietnam-era disillusionment. Natural health movements were growing rapidly, and cancer mortality remained stubbornly high despite aggressive chemotherapy regimens. His claims about Vitamin C fighting tumors found a receptive audience among patients desperate for alternatives, making this quote culturally charged far beyond nutrition science.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].