Email of the day on vitamin C and supporting the immune system
Comment of the Day

April 08 2020

Commentary by Eoin Treacy

Email of the day on vitamin C and supporting the immune system

On Coronavirus In 1970, the late eminent medical research scientist and Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling made quite a startling finding, albeit based on a fairly small sample of school children on vacation in the swiss alps. He found that there was a statistically significant group that were taking daily high doses of vitamin C which had a much lower infection rate with the common cold virus. Vitamin C has subsequently been found to help the cellular production of Interferon. Common cold viruses are also in the family of coronaviruses. Just a thought

Eoin Treacy's view

Thank you for this insightful comment. There have been stories from hospitals that vitamin-C is effective. I have also talked to rheumatologists who dismiss the claim it is possible to affect the immune system. That definitely seems to fly in the face of the fact that people have taken everything from oranges to lemons as home remedies for colds for centuries.

For example, my mother never treated a cold or flu with anything more than a hot drink made from fresh lemon juice, honey and sugar as well as the strong belief it was going to improve her symptoms. She maybe took one ibuprofen a year.

This interview, kindly forwarded by a subscriber, with Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, who is running for the US Senate, is on the fringe of systems biology but he is making a number of compelling arguments about the lack of systems based biology in the medical field.

I was on a conference call today with someone who has recovered from the coronavirus. He was on a ski trip in Colorado with ten families in total. Eight people contracted the virus and none passed it the other members of their families. Testing was hard to get and no one has had an antibody test yet.

Eventually, we are going to get a vaccine for the coronavirus and that will be useful for people with compromised immune systems. There is no argument to counter the advice we should be looking after our personal wellbeing through sound nutrition. The vast majority of people are going to work through an infection with little need for hospital assistance.

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