John Sinor Column
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from June 1980.
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I suppose it is a valuable lesson for us. Do not pepper yourself. There's your carcinogen of the week.
What else is new in this spinning world? Well, so far science has been unable to cure my common cold. Oh, it has gotten better. But it won't seem to go away.
I said: "Do we have any decongestant tablets around here?" (I use those tiny little time capsules tha pop off every few minutes, hopefully sending another cold germ to eternity.)
My wife said: "Why don't you take some vitamin C? Take three or four tablets. It always works for me."
Vitamin C is the answer to almost everything around here. Feeling listless and unable to stay awake? Take vitamin C. Head cold? Chest cold? Aching muscles? Take vitamin C.
I said: "I've tried that C route before. I took enough to practically qualify as an orange. It didn't do a thing for me." She said: "Okay. Okay. All I know is that it works for me and the kids. But it's your cold."
The debate about the value of vitamins bounces back and forth like a tennis match.
Some nutritionists say vitamins will cure you of everything from itchy scalp and falling hair to tired blood and double vision.
If you feel like you're over the hill, take vitamin E. Pretty soon the hills will be alive with the sound of music.
Other nutritionists say the vitamin business is a silly game that Americans pay several billion dollars each year to play.
"You get all the vitamins you need in a balanced diet," they say. Sure you do. But who eats a balanced diet? Well, we are in the vitamin game around here, playing it for all it's worth. And it's worth quite a bit. I looked at the price tags on some of those bottles in the pantry. And there are about a dozen or so bottles. I was afraid to add them up.
She said: "The thing is to take natural vitamins. they're much more effective." I said: "What's natural about a pill? Why not just eat a food that has the vitamin in it?"
"Sometimes you need massive doses. You can't find that in food without eating a whole lot of it. Now vitamin C, for instance, should be the kind that comes from rose hips. That's the natural kind." I didn't even know roses had hips.
I said: "How about a nice slice of lime? What could be a more natural source of vitamin C? I could soak it in some gin and tonic to disguise the taste."
She said: "How much vitamin C do you think you can get from one slice of lime?"
I said: "Who said anything about stopping at one? The way my head feels, I think I'm ready for a massive dose. Do we have any ice?" Well, there must be something to it. After only two slices of natural vitamin C (in two separate glasses), my cold felt considerably better. To your health.
