Hemilä H
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 1997;67(5):329-35.
In 1970 Linus Pauling claimed that vitamin C prevents and alleviates the episodes of the common cold. Pauling was correct in concluding from trials published up till then, that in general vitamin C does have biological effects on the common cold, but he was rather over-optimistic as regards the size of benefit. His quantitative conclusions were based on a single placebo-controlled trial on schoolchildren in a skiing camp in the Swiss Alps, in which a significant decrease in common cold incidence and duration in the group administered 1 g/day of vitamin C was found. As children in a skiing camp are not a representative sample of the general population, Pauling's extrapolation to the population at large was too bold, erring as to the magnitude of the effect. Nevertheless, Pauling's general conclusion that vitamin C has physiological effects on the common cold is of major importance as it conflicts with the prevailing consensus that the only physiological effect of vitamin C on human beings is to prevent scurvy.
1970年，莱纳斯·鲍林宣称维生素C能预防和缓解普通感冒。从当时已发表的试验结果来看，鲍林得出维生素C通常对普通感冒具有生物学效应这一结论是正确的，但在益处大小方面，他却过于乐观。他的定量结论基于一项针对瑞士阿尔卑斯山滑雪营中在校儿童的单安慰剂对照试验，该试验发现，每日服用1克维生素C的组中，普通感冒的发病率和持续时间显著降低。由于滑雪营中的儿童并非普通人群的代表性样本，鲍林对总体人群的推断过于大胆，在效应大小方面出现了错误。然而，鲍林关于维生素C对普通感冒具有生理效应的总体结论非常重要，因为它与当时普遍的共识——维生素C对人类唯一的生理效应是预防坏血病——相冲突。
