Linus Pauling Institute: Update by Paul Anthony Taylor March 2005

Following my communications with the Linus Pauling Institute, as described in Health Freedom News (Vol. 22, No. 4, at 7), I recently noticed that three months had passed since they promised that my proposal to include mention of Linus Pauling’s dietary-supplement recommendations on their website would be discussed at the next meeting of the Institute’s Micronutrient Information Center (MIC).   As you will recall, I had written to the Institute last Fall to express my concern that its dietary-supplement recommendations mostly comprised only the measly Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) amounts set by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board.  Given that the RDAs bear no relation at all to the much larger amounts recommended by Linus himself, I pointed out, this was tantamount to a rewriting of his legacy, and as such was something that disturbed me greatly.  At the time, Stephen Lawson, the Institute’s Administrative Officer, assured me that my suggestion would be discussed and that he would inform me as to the reasons for the outcome.   So, expecting to get an answer to the effect that my suggestion had not yet been discussed, I nonetheless wrote to Stephen on January 24th, asking had the MIC met, was my suggestion discussed, and if yes, what was the outcome of those discussions?  His written reply, which I received the following day, was as follows: “[Y]our suggestion was considered. After some thought, we didn't think that it would be useful to juxtapose Pauling's recommendations with those of LPI without being able to explain how Pauling's were derived.  Quite a lot of detailed information about specific vitamins is presented on LPI's Micronutrient Information Center.  In some cases, the LPI recommendation differs from the RDA.  In others, it conforms to the RDA because the writer and reviewer were not aware of substantial research that would cause the recommendation to differ significantly from the RDA.  Again, the LPI recommendation is based on the accumulated evidence on the prevention of disease or attainment of optimum health, not disease treatment.  Granted, this picture changes with important new studies, and we're not locked into an unchangeable recommendation.  I don't think it would be useful to simply post Pauling's recommendations alongside LPI's without discussing reasons for the differences.  If we don't understand the precise rationale behind Pauling's recommendations, then this can't really be adequately addressed.” So there we have it then. The Linus Pauling Institute has refused to include any mention of Linus Pauling’s own supplement recommendations on their website.  Moreover, this decision appears to be made on the dubious grounds that since Linus is no longer around to explain how his recommendations were derived the Institute cannot be expected to understand the precise rationale behind them. Incredible, isn’t it? The dietary-supplement recommendations of one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century are not considered worthy of a single mention on the website of an institution that he founded and which still bears his name. Note, too, Stephen Lawson’s statement that “the LPI recommendation is based on the accumulated evidence on the prevention of disease or attainment of optimum health.”  Given that the LPI’s recommendations are mostly only the RDAs, this seemingly puts them in direct opposition to Linus, who believed that “No evidence compels the conclusion that the minimum required intake of any vitamin comes close to the optimum intake that sustains good health.” (See Pauling, L., How To Live Longer And Feel Better, Pub. Avon Books 1987, at p.4.)   If you wish to write to Stephen Lawson yourself about this matter, he can be contacted at stephen.lawson@oregonstate.edu.  You might also want to copy your letter to George S. Bailey, the Institute’s senior Professor, at george.bailey@oregonstate.edu. The names and email addresses of other senior members of the Institute’s staff can be found at http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/staff.html.  Or, you can write them at the Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, 571Weniger Hall, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-6512 USA.   Who knows, perhaps if they receive several thousand e-mails and letters from disgruntled readers of Health Freedom News, they might be prepared to reconsider their decision . . .?