A famous chemist made the claim
The modern push to take very large doses of vitamin C for a cold is largely traced to Linus Pauling. A celebrated chemist and two-time Nobel laureate, Pauling argued in his 1970 book Vitamin C and the Common Cold that taking substantial amounts could prevent colds and ease their symptoms. His scientific reputation helped turn the idea into a household health belief.
From a plausible role to a much bigger promise
Vitamin C is essential to normal bodily functions, including making collagen, a protein used in connective tissue. That made it reasonable to ask whether extra vitamin C might help the body cope with an infection. But being necessary for health does not mean that ever-larger doses provide ever-greater benefits: once the body has enough, much of the additional vitamin is excreted.
Pauling’s argument reached beyond the evidence available to establish that routine megadoses could reliably stop or cure colds. Later research has found a narrower picture: regular supplementation may modestly shorten colds for some people, but starting it after symptoms appear has not shown a dependable cure. That distinction is easy to lose when a confident, simple promise travels farther than its qualifications.
Why the idea stuck
A cold is miserable, vitamin C is familiar, and taking a tablet feels like an action a person can control. Pauling’s authority gave that appealing remedy an especially powerful advocate. The result was a lasting association between colds and high-dose vitamin C—one rooted less in a proven cure than in a prominent scientist’s persuasive extrapolation.
