Your Challenge

If you have read carefully to this point, you are now in possession of all the important current knowledge on free radicals and antioxidant vitamins. Of course, there are many additional things in the scientific literature that I might have included. But if I had done that you might have found the book confusing or hard to read, so I thought it better to select.

In writing a book of this kind it is difficult to avoid personal bias. Over the years I have formed some firm opinions on the matter and it is important for me to concentrate on putting across facts rather than opinions. Nothing is easier than to deliberately select those reports and arguments that support a particular point of view and to ignore or play down those that to not. To do this is neither honest nor safe. At the same time, it is impossible to research and study a subject as potentially important as this without taking up a position. Once this has happened it becomes even more difficult to be disinterested. So I have had to be careful not to give way to a natural tendency to accentuate the evidence in favour and I am not sure that I have entirely succeeded.

You will have gathered that I have long been convinced of the importance of free radicals and of the value of antioxidant vitamin treatment. whatever they may say about Linus Pauling, I am on his side it is a matter of great regret to me that he died (at a very advanced age) before I could send him a copy of a book of this kind. I would have liked to have been able to think of him with his large jar of vitamin C on his desk, munching away while reading this book hopefully with approval.

I am reasonably sure that I have not made any claims that are not well supported by scientific evidence. One must, of course, take on trust the statements made in the various reports and make verbally by scientific enthusiasts. This is not so hazardous as you might think. Published scientific work is closely and critically scrutinized by many other scientists, especially those working in the same field, and the one thing they are looking for are claims or assertions that they think may not be backed up by convincing evidence. All really important findings are independently checked by repeated research, done by other people, and many papers are published to refute or confirm such work.