Irwin Stone - Hypoascorbemia Hypothesis

Hypoascorbemia Hypothesis

Dr. Stone's research in ascorbic acid continued and led to his interest in the disease, scurvy. By the late 1950s, Stone had formulated his hypothesis that scurvy was not a dietary disturbance, but a potentially fatal flaw in human genetics that had suppressed an essential part of the mammalian biochemistry and had been misunderstood by nutritionists. He proposed the name hypoascorbemia for the effects of this genetic defect. He proposed that ascorbate was not a vitamin required only in trace amounts, but was required by humans in relatively large daily quantities. He produced four papers, between 1965 and 1967, describing what he considered the true human requirement for ascorbate.

Stone experienced great difficulty in getting his ideas published. However, following his retirement from his position as chemist from the Wallerstein company in 1971, he worked full time on ascorbate. In 1972 he published the book, The Healing Factor.

Irwin Stone introduced Linus Pauling to Vitamin C and is recognised within orthomolecular medicine as one of its founders. His research provided additional scientific background for the clinical results of megadose ascorbate treatments claimed by his contemporary, Dr. Frederick Robert Klenner.

Both Linus Pauling and Albert Szent-Györgyi wrote forewords to The Healing Factor endorsing his ideas.