An excerpt from Do You Believe in Magic, by ACSH trustee Dr. Paul Offit was published in the latest issue of The Atlantic magazine. We ve told you in the past of our great admiration for his work in this area, but can t resist providing some more compliments.
This excerpt is a must-read for those who don t think they have time for the whole book, but want to understand how we got where we are today where people accept without question the benefits of vitamin supplements. Dr. Offit traces the origins of the popular wisdom about these supplements, particularly vitamin C, to Dr. Linus Pauling, a brilliant Nobel Prize winning chemist whose contributions to our understanding of how atoms bond to each other revolutionized our knowledge of chemistry.
But, according to Dr. Offit, when Pauling began to espouse megadoses of vitamin C to prevent and treat nearly every malady known to man, he really went off the rails big time. Dr. Offit provides both a timeline of Pauling s pronouncements as well as descriptions of important later research that demonstrates just how baseless Pauling s claims were.
ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava comments Anyone who is contemplating using vitamin supplements that they believe will help prevent or cure a disease should first read this excerpt, if not the whole book and perhaps reconsider.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom comments, If you don t think you have time to read the entire book, this excerpt will probably change your mind. And well it should. This is one of the best written and most important books I ve ever read. Do yourself a favor and get a copy. You will not be disappointed.