- 26 -

acid group was 15 percent.  In addition, half of the subjects in each group
received an additional 3 g per day durmg colds.  The average number of
days of illness per cold was 13 percent less for these subjects than for
those who did not receive this extra ascorbic acid.

     Dr B. Elliott reported in 1973 on a double-blind study on a
Polaris submarine.  Half of the 70 subjects received 2 g per day of ascorbic
acid and the others received a placebo.  There was no consistent difference
in days of morbidity with runny nose or sneezing, but the values for hoarseness,
sore throat, non-productive cough, and productive cough were 63, 72,
60, and 69 percent, respectively, less for the ascorbic-acid subjects than

for the control subjects.

     All of the reported studies that have been carried out with ascorbic
acid (or a placebo) given over a period of time to subjects exposed to colds
in the ordinary way have led to the result that ascorbic acid, vitamin C, has
some power of protection against the common cold.  The reported decrease

in illness for an intake of 1 to 3 g per day is between 15 percent and 65 percent.
     We are justified in concluding from these investigations that
ascorbic acid is effective in decreasing the incidence, severity, and integrated
                                                            
morbidity of the common cold.

Other Controlled Studies of Ascorbic Acid and the Common Cold
      In addition to these studies, several other carefully controlled
studies of ascorbic acid and the common cold have been carried out (Franz,
Sands, and Hey1 1956,. Wilson and Loh 1970, Glazebrook and Thompson
1242, Dahlberg, Engel, and Rydin 1944), with results in agreement with the
conclusion that ascorbic acid provides protection against the common cold

(Pauling 1971).

     There is only one investigation that seems to give a contradictory

result.  This is the work of Walker, Bynoe, and Tyrrell (1967) of the
Common Cold Research Unit, Salisbury, England. Of the 91 subjects,
47 received 3 g of ascorbic acid per day for 3 days before inoculation
with viruses (rhino viruses, influenza B, or B814 virus) and for 6 days
after inoculation, and 44 subjects received a placebo.  The incidence of


- 26A -

colds was only 6 percent less for the ascorbic-acid group than for the
placebo group. It is possible that the conditions of this study, involving
introduction of a suspension of virus particles directly into the nose and
throat of the subject, were so much different from the conditions of


- 27 -

ordinary exposure of persons to the viruses of the common cold, U;,ually
disseminated in the form of spray by the coughing or sneezing of persons
with coids, that the results are not significant with respect to the ques-
tion of whether or not ascorbic acid has protective effect for persons under
ordinary conditions of exposure.  It may be pointed out that the number of

persons in the study and the short period of the study are such that a pro-
tective effect would have had to be larger than 40 percent in order to be
statistically significant at the 0.05 level.

        There is some evidence that an increased intake of ascorbic

acid, 3 g to 10 g per day, taken regularly, leads to a decrease in incidence
of the common cold by about 90 percent.  This evidence has not been ob-

tainea, however, by the process of setting up double-blind trials.  It was

pointed out by one investigator that there is difficulty in carrying out con-
trolled tests when the protective substance has a protective power as great
as 90 percent, because the placebo subjects soon observe that they are not
being prote cte d, where as some of the other subjects are being protectec.
Dr. Frederick R. Klenner, a physician who for 27 years has useo ascorbic
acid for the treatment of all virus infections, has recently (1971) made the
following statement: "I have several hundred patients who have taken 10 g
or more of vitamin C daily for 3 to 15 years.  Ninety percent of these never
have colds. "

The Amelioration of the Common Cold

      A paper reporting that ascorbic acid taken in proper amount at
the first signs of a common cold decreases its severity in a significant way
has been published by Dr. E. Regnier, a physician in Salem, Mass'achusetts.
Dr. Regnier reported the results of a study of 137 colds, in 22 subjects,
mostly physicians or other professional people, over a 5-year period.  The

subjects were given tablets of ascorbic acid or tablets of a placebo, to tie
ingested immediately at the cirst sign of a cold.  The amount of ascorbic

acid used was 600 mg, followed by an additional 600 mg of ascorbic acid every


- 28 -

three hours.  Of 84 incipient colds treated in this way, only 8 developed
into full-blown colds, whereas of 53 treated with the placebo, 50 developed

into full -blown colds.  Accordingly the investigator observed a go-percent
decrease in the number of colds in the ascorbic-acid subjects, as compared
with the placebo subjects, under this treatment.  The amount of ascorbic

acid required was about 4 g per day.

      Other investigators have also reported that a similar treat-
ment is effective in stopping a cold.  The American physician Dr. H. C.
Wood, Jr. (1962) recommends taking 1,000 mg as soon as one says to him-

self, "I think I am catching a cold", followed by 500 mg of ascorbic acid
every two hours during waking periods, for a total of 4 or 5 g per day.
Irwin Stone (quoted by Pauling, Vitamin C and the Common Cold) recommends
a succession of 1.5-g doses at l-hour intervals, beginning at the first sign

of a cold.  All three report that the treatment is unsuccessful if it is delayed.
      Several investigators have reported that the treatment of the

common cold with ascorbic acid beginning after the cold has developed has
given negative results.  All of these investigators have, however, made use
of smaller amounts than are recommended by Regnier, Wood, and Stone, and
the first dose of ascorbic acid has been delayed for several hours.  It is my

opinion, from personal observation and from reports made to me by persons
in close contact with me, that most colds can be stopped by the ingestion of
ascorbic acid in sufficient amount, beginning immediately at the first sign of

a cold.

Conclusion

      It has recently become evident that a number of controlled

studies of the effect of ascorbic acid on the incidence, severity, and inte-
grated morbidity of the common cold in populations receiving ascorbic acid
regularly, beginning before colds have been incurred and with the subjects
exposed to coid viruses in the ordinary way (contact with other people),


- 29 -

have given consistent results, showing that ascorbic acid has great value.
The observations reject with high statistical significance the null hypothesis
that under these conditions ascorbic acid has the same effect as a placebo.
Ascorbic acid in the daily amount 200 mg decreases the incidence of colds
and the severity of individual colds by about 20 percent, and decreases the
integrated morbidity of the common cold by about 30 percent.  In the daily
amount 1,000 mg it decreases the incidence and the severity by about 30
percent, and the integrated morbidity by about b$O percent. No controlled
study under these conditions has given results rejecting with statistical
significance the hypothesis that this amount of protection occurs.

       Moreover, a cold can be stopped or greatly decreased in
severity by treatment beginning immediately after the first indication
(sneeze, nasal secretion, chill) that the cold is beginning. The treatment
required to stop the cold is the immediate ingestion of 500 or 1,000 mg of
ascorbic acid, followed by an equal amount every hour.

        There is some evidence that ascorbic acid in increased amounts

has value also in providing protection against other diseases.  Much of the

evidence is quoted in a recent book by Irwin Stone (1972).  Ascorbic acid may
                                             k7

well be the most valuable of all the substances available for use inavplying
                                                             A

the principles of orthomolecular medicine.


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