How to Live Longer and Feel Better [Paperback]

 

 

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I read this book in August 2003.

The same month I ordered vitamins as suggested by Linus Pauling on the internet and started taking them. I started with about 3-4 grams of vitamin C daily. Slowly, initially reluctancty, my wife too joined me. And then we started giving our 5 year old twin kids 1 gram of vitamin C daily.

Since then,

(1) nobody from our family has needed to visit a doctor. (earlier we had multiple visits per month)

(2) i have not had a cold, or a cough or a sore throat.

(3) my wife's allergies and asthma have improved.

(4) my kids do not get colds or sore throats or ear aches.

(5) my mother has also started vitamin c and her allergies of 20 years have disappeared.

Now, I sing praises of vitamin C and Linus Pauling in front of anybody who cares to listen !

Linus Pauling, best known as an advocate of the health value of mega doses of Vitamin C, and a two time Nobel Prize winner.

In a major cancer hospital in 1976, they carried out a study of terminal patients for whom conventional treatment was stopped. The control group of 1,000 who had no Vitamin C therapy all died by August 10, 1976. The test group of 100 patients who were treated with Ascorbate (Vitamin C) had eighteen people surviving by this date. The average survival time of those getting Vitamin C therapy was 4.2 times longer than the control group, on average living over 300 days longer. Some of this group continued to live indefinitely. You can probably imagine that people in a less dire state would show even better results.

Another study indicated that people with cancer tend to have lower amounts of Vitamin C. It is possible that the Vitamin C is depleted because it is being used by the body to fight disease, and therefore it might be reasonable concluded, according to Dr Pauling, that an ill person would need more of this supplement.

Dr Pauling himself took about 18g a day.

There are anecdotal stories in the book. One in particular of a man who took 10-12g a day for a 52mm liver cancer lesion. The cancer was stopped from progressing, and eventually much to the surprise of medical experts shrunk 32%. Dr Pauling recommended he up the dose to 25g daily, and he eventually on his own initiative went to 36 g. At the time he wrote to Dr Pauling he had survived two years.

One of the key issues we face as we grow older is disease of our connective tissue, and inflammation. This is manifested through conditions such as arthritis. I remember reading somewhere that about 80% of people age 60 have some form of arthritis. Vitamin C is an excellent anti inflammatory, and also great for allergies and colds.

If you are interested in learning more about health and longevity, I recommend reading this book.

I hope you find this review helpful.

This is a great book. I came away from reading it with a lot of respect and admiration for Linus Pauling and his work. The world would be a far better place with more people like him in it.

At the start of the book, Pauling gives a simple guide to how to live a healthier life. It's so simple, practical and inexpensive and makes so much sense. One wonders how much disease could have been prevented, and could be prevented now, if more of us followed these simple guidelines. My guess is A HUGE AMOUNT!

(Looking at M.E. specifically, one wonders how many of us could have avoided becoming severely ill by following this guide both pre- and post-illness...I wish so much I had had this guide in the early days of my illness, or before I became ill. I strongly suspect I would not be anywhere near as ill as I am now and I am mad that this basic advice about vitamins is so seldom given by the mainstream media or by doctors. WHY? When it's so safe, cheap and effective?? It's such a waste.)

This is a slightly paraphrased version of Pauling's basic regimen for a healthy life:
* Take 6 - 18 g of vitamin C daily
* Take 400 IU, 800 IU or 1600 IU of natural vitamin E daily
* Take 1 - 2 B vitamin supplements daily
* Take 25 000 IU of vitamin A daily
* Take a multimineral tablet daily
* Keep your intake of sugar low
* Eat what you like in moderation, but avoid sugar. Meat and eggs are good, and fruit and vegetables are good. Don't eat too much of any one food and don't eat so much that you become overweight.
* Drink plenty of water
* Keep active, but do not severely overexert yourself physically.
* Drink alcohol in moderation only
* DO NOT SMOKE CIGARETTES
* Avoid stress, work at a job you like, be happy with your family.

This is just such a great and simple list, I had to type it out for those who can't read/afford the book. (Note that Pauling comments that the amounts given for supplements are for healthy people, and that those suffering serious illness may need higher doses of some of these, including vitamin C to bowel tolerance.)

It's appalling that more than 20 years after this book was published, the same old scaremongering (ie. lying!) about the safety of vitamins and their effectiveness is still going on, and people are still being told vitamins are not safe, helpful or necessary and that all that is needed is a balanced diet. (A nice story, but one that isn't based on fact.) Sadly, the same old nonsense that Pauling describes, where vitamin studies are set up to fail by those who want to prove that vitamins don't work, is still happening; doses much smaller than would be effective are used, the time periods are too short to allow the vitamin to actually work, and so on.

Pauling had high hopes that all this was about to start changing and that soon vitamins would become far more accepted and used in mainstream medicine. To some extent that has happened, but for the most part little has really changed. It's quite depressing.

The first few chapters of the book are the best, they talk about this simple regimen and also about the dangers inherent in mainstream medicine and why any consult or procedure should be carefully evaluated, as they each carry significant risk. (Mainstream medicine practices being the 10th biggest killer in countries such as the USA!) The rest of the book talks in detail about what evidence we have to support the use of high dose vitamin C and E and niacin, and how negative reports on these vitamins have twisted the facts and are not motivated by science. Many different studies are quoted in a lot of detail, thus Pauling's arguments are very convincing.

Many other books provide more detailed overviews and practical advice about treating specific diseases and the role of many different vitamins and their dosage, toxicity such as `The vita-nutrient solution' and `Orthomolecular medicine for everyone' and so on. But this book is highly recommended for those who are very interested in this topic and would like to do some extra reading on top of these more basic texts, and to learn more about Linus Pauling and the history of mega-vitamin therapy advocacy and research.

Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

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5.0 out of 5 stars The complex made simple...
This book was awesome reading not only for the information contained but for the opportunity to read something written by a two-time Nobel laureate. Dr. Read more

Published on Jan 27 2003 by Pat Crew

5.0 out of 5 stars More Quantity and Quality of Life--Guaranteed!
I was lucky enough to be home one afternoon 15 years ago watching the Phil Donahue show. Linus Pauling was on the show promoting this book opposite Jack La Lanne (the fitness... Read more

Published on Feb 5 2002 by Aaron Reed

5.0 out of 5 stars precious hints to understand limits on doctors practice
Thanks Linus....!
Read his pages carefully and you will find out the smoothly exposed story of the biggest cospiration against everybody's
health carried out,... Read more

Published on Jan 28 2002 by pugolotti sergio

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable guide to achieving and maintaining good health.
The orthodox medical establishment doesn't yet realize it but America is in the midst of a major shift in the paradigm of health. Read more

Published on Oct 17 2000 by D. R. Schryer

5.0 out of 5 stars Pauling was an innovator, not a follower
Linus Pauling was a man who challenged every conclusion another scientist would reach, only to draw his own conclusions. Read more

Published on Oct 12 2000 by Marcus T. Brody

5.0 out of 5 stars Changed My Life!
Fifteen years ago I purchased this book for the first time. Today I am buying it as a gift for my son. I feel I am giving him the gift of life all over again. Read more

Published on Sep 26 2000 by Joy Sieminski

5.0 out of 5 stars C for yourself !
Linus Pauling, possibly the greatest scientist of all time, missed very few tricks. He fearlessly exposed the medical/pharmaceutical conspiracy against ascorbate or so called... Read more

Published on Sep 7 2000 by Sydney J Bush

5.0 out of 5 stars Pauling changes perceptions
Most people have the following perception of Vitamin C: ..."Well, vitamin C may be a nice, healthy supplement which, as such, may provide some minor protection against... Read more

Published on May 14 2000 by Allan Barstow

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best from the Best
It is the BEST from the BEST ... and let me tell you why. I am taking vitamins in large dosages as prescribed in this book for well over ten years. Read more

Published on Dec 21 1999 by Lester Kostolanci

3.0 out of 5 stars easy to read, but take with your RDA of salt
Linus Pauling's book made me feel as if only a few grams of the right chemicals could make me live forever. Read more

Published on Nov 27 1999 by Al Kihano

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