A Vitamin C Primer
Will you please tell me everything you know about vitamin C?
———- from M. Richardson of Allegan, MI
For starters, it was invented by the famous chemist Linus Pauling. A harmless by-product of Jell-O synthesis, Vitamin C was originally thought to be simply an annoying scum at the bottom of the test tube. Then the Nobel laureate chemist found that if properly packaged and promoted as a cure for the common cold, Vitamin C could revolutionize the world of over-the-counter dietary supplements. Rumors that Pauling had drugged the Nobel committee to give him a second prize, this time for promoting world peace, are entirely unfounded. The tolerant Swede’s simply wanted to get him off his tiresome Vitamin C tirade, and hoped a second prize would do it. It didn’t.
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