The Timeline for Vitamin Medicine
The Vitamin Medicine Timeline will give you a view of historical research in the utilization of vitamins in treating disease and its effectiveness. Orthomolecular.org is a good place to learn about healthy solutions, outcomes, research and to locate a physician.
“(OMNS Feb 15, 2014) Don’t get bogged down by silly claims that multiple vitamins kill, or that antioxidants are bad for you. It is high time to take a look at the record, and review what published medical research actually has been saying for eight decades.”
The Vitamin Medicine Timeline by Andrew W. Saul, Editor
| Year | Research |
|---|---|
| 1935 | Claus Washington Jungeblut, MD, professor of bacteriology at Columbia University, first publishes on vitamin C as prevention and treatment for polio; in the same year, Jungeblut also shows that vitamin C inactivates diphtheria toxin. |
| 1936 | Evan Shute, MD, and Wilfrid Shute, MD, demonstrate that vitamin E-rich wheat germ oil cures angina. |
| 1937 | Dr. Jungeblut demonstrates that ascorbate (vitamin C) inactivated tetanus toxin. |
| 1939 | William Kaufman, MD, PhD, successfully treats arthritis with niacinamide (vitamin B3). |
| 1940 | The Shute brothers publish that vitamin E prevents fibroids and endometriosis, and is curative for atherosclerosis. |
| 1942 | Ruth Flinn Harrell, PhD, measures the positive effect of added thiamine (B1) on learning. |
| 1945 | Vitamin E is shown to cure hemorrhages in the skin and mucous membranes, and to decrease the diabetic’s need for insulin. |
| 1946 | Vitamin E is shown to greatly improve wound healing, including skin ulcers. It is also demonstrated that vitamin E strengthens and regulates heartbeat, and is effective in cases of claudication, acute nephritis, thrombosis, cirrhosis, and phlebitis; also, William J. McCormick, MD, shows how vitamin C prevents and also cures kidney stones. |
| 1947 | Vitamin E is successfully used as therapy for gangrene, inflammation of blood vessels (Buerger’s disease), retinitis, and choroiditis; Roger J. Williams, PhD, publishes on how vitamins can be used to treat alcoholism. |
| 1948 | Frederick R. Klenner, MD, a board-certified specialist in diseases of the chest, publishes cures of 41 cases of viral pneumonia using very high doses of vitamin C. |
| 1949 | Dr. Kaufman publishes The Common Form of Joint Dysfunction. |
| 1950 | Vitamin E is shown to be an effective treatment for lupus erythematosus, varicose veins, and severe body burns. |
| 1951 | Vitamin D treatment is found to be effective against Hodgkin’s disease (a cancer of the lymphatic system) and epithelioma. |
| 1954 | Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD, and colleagues demonstrate that niacin (vitamin B3) can cure schizophrenia; the Shutes’ medical textbook Alpha Tocopherol in Cardiovascular Disease is published; and Dr. McCormick reports that cancer patients tested for vitamin C were seriously deficient, often by as much as 4,500 milligrams. |
| 1955 | Niacin is first shown to lower serum cholesterol. |
| 1956 | Mayo Clinic researcher William Parsons, MD, and colleagues confirm Hoffer’s use of niacin to lower cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease; Dr. Harrell demonstrates that supplementation of the pregnant and lactating mothers’ diet with vitamins increases the intelligence quotients of their offspring at three and four years of age. |
| 1957 | Dr. McCormick publishes on how vitamin C fights cardiovascular disease. |
| 1960 | Dr. Hoffer meets Bill W., cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and uses niacin to eliminate Bill’s longstanding severe depression. |
| 1963 | Vitamin D is shown to prevent breast cancer. |
| 1964 | Vitamin D is found to be effective against lymph nodal reticulosarcoma (a non-Hodgkin’s lymphatic cancer). |
| 1968 | Linus Pauling, PhD, publishes the theoretical basis of high-dose nutrient therapy (orthomolecular medicine) in psychiatry in Science, and soon after defines orthomolecular medicine as “the treatment of disease by the provision of the optimum molecular environment, especially the optimum concentrations of substances normally present in the human body.” |
| 1969 | Robert F. Cathcart, MD, uses large doses of vitamin C to treat pneumonia, hepatitis, and, years later, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). |
| 1970 | Dr. Pauling publishes Vitamin C and the Common Cold and Dr. Williams publishes Nutrition Against Disease. |
| 1972 | Publication of The Healing Factor: “Vitamin C” Against Disease by Irwin Stone, PhD. |
| 1973 | Dr. Klenner publishes his vitamin supplement protocol to arrest and reverse multiple sclerosis. So does Dr. HT Mount, reporting on 27 years of success using thiamine. |
| 1975 | Hugh D. Riordan, MD, and colleagues successfully use large doses of intravenous vitamin C against cancer. |
| 1976 | Ewan Cameron, MD, and other physicians in Scotland show that intravenous vitamin C improved quality and length of life in terminal cancer patients |
| 1982 | In Japan, Murata, Morishige, and Yamaguchi show that vitamin C greatly prolonged the lives of terminal cancer patients. |
| 1984 | Robert F. Cathcart, MD, publishes on the vitamin C treatment of AIDS. |
| 1986 | Publication of How to Live Longer and Feel Better by Linus Pauling. |
| 1988 | Dr. Lendon H. Smith publishes Vitamin C as a Fundamental Medicine: Abstracts of Dr. Frederick R. Klenner, M.D.’s Published and Unpublished Work, now known as Clinical Guide to the Use of Vitamin C. |
| 1990 | American doctors successfully use vitamin C to treat kidney cancer, and in 1995 and 1996, other cancers. |
| 1993 | Large-scale studies show that vitamin E supplementation reduces the risk of coronary heart disease in men and women. |
| 1995 | Dr. Riordan and colleagues publish their protocol for intravenous vitamin C treatment of cancer. |
| 2002 | Vitamin E shown to improve immune functions in patients with advanced colorectal cancer, by immediately increasing T helper 1 cytokine production. |
| 2004 | Doctors in America and Puerto Rico publish more clinical cases of vitamin C successes against cancer. |
| 2005 | Research sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health shows that high levels of vitamin C kill cancer cells without harming normal cells. |
| 2006 | Canadian doctors report intravenous vitamin C is successful in treating cancer. |
| 2007 | Harold D. Foster and colleagues publish a double-blind, randomized clinical trial showing that HIV-positive patients given supplemental nutrients can delay or stop their decline into AIDS. |
| 2008 | Korean doctors report that intravenous vitamin C “plays a crucial role in the suppression of proliferation of several types of cancer,” notably melanoma. And, natural vitamin E is demonstrated to substantially reduce risk of lung cancer by 61%. |
| 2009, 2010, 2012 | Intravenous Vitamin C and Cancer Symposiums filmed and made available for free-access online. http://www.riordanclinic.org/education/symposium/s2009 (twelve lectures), http://www.riordanclinic.org/education/symposium/s2010 (nine lectures) and http://www.riordanclinic.org/education/symposium/s2012 (eleven lectures) |
| 2011 | Each 20 micromole/liter (µmol/L) increase in plasma vitamin C is associated with a 9% reduction in death from heart failure. Also, B complex vitamins are associated with a 7 percent decrease in mortality, vitamin D with an 8 percent decrease in mortality. |
| 2012 | Vitamin C shown to prevent and treat radiation-damaged DNA. |
| 2013 | B-vitamin supplementation seen to slow the atrophy of specific brain regions that are a key component of the Alzheimer’s disease process and are associated with cognitive decline. |
| 2014 | In patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, 2,000 IU of natural vitamin E slows the decline compared to placebo. Data from 561 patients showed that those taking vitamin E function significantly better in daily life, and required the least care. Vitamin C greatly reduces chemotherapy side effects and improves cancer patient survival. |