Irwin Stone Papers, 1902-1984

Born in 1907, Irwin Stone was a biochemist and chemical engineer who was known for his groundbreaking research on ascorbic acid, more commonly known as Vitamin C. He championed the use of Vitamin C for food preservation and human health throughout his career.

After his education in chemical engineering, Stone was the Chief Chemist at Pease Laboratories, a biological and chemical consulting laboratory in New York. In 1934, he set up and directed the enzyme and fermentation research laboratory of Wallerstein Company, a manufacturer of industrial enzymes. In this setting, he first experimented with using ascorbic acid to guard against enzyme deterioration from exposure to air. As part of his work on improving the flavor stability of packaged beer, he discovered the preservative qualities of ascorbic acid, just two years after the substance's discovery by Albert Szent-Gyorgyi. He filed 5 patents on applications of ascorbic acid between 1935-1940, including one for its first industrial use as a food antioxidant. During this period he began researching scurvy and related diseases, as his discoveries and patents led in part to the virtual elimination of frank clinical scurvy from developed countries. Stone began positing that these were linked to humans' inability to produce necessary amounts of ascorbic acid.

In 1954, Stone and his wife Barbara were driving to attend a meeting of the American Society of Brewing Chemists in South Dakota when they were hit by a drunk driver. Both had extensive injuries. Stone was told he would not walk again or possibly talk again due to a traumatic larynx injury. They spent three months in rehabilitation together in South Dakota. After five operations he left fully healed, walking and talking. Both credited their accelerated recovery to the consumption of large doses of Vitamin C. Stone used his research background to prove the detoxifying power of ascorbic acid, claiming that it increased human resistance to the shock of sudden injury or illness.

In 1965, he began publishing a continuing series of papers on the genetic liver-enzyme disease he called hypoascorbemia. This disease occurs, Stone asserted, because humans carry a defective gene for the enzyme protein L-gluconolactone oxidase, and this is the reason humans were susceptible to scurvy and rampant chronic subclinical scurvy.

In April 1966, Linus Pauling met Irwin Stone at one of Pauling's lectures. After reading Stone's ascorbic acid regimen and his work on ascorbate, Pauling and his family began taking large doses of Vitamin C. Pauling saw a significant improvement in the colds that he had suffered from for many years. He began promoting Vitamin C as a therapeutic, corresponding with Stone and others in the field. Pauling published Vitamin C and the Common Cold in 1971. In this book, Pauling deemed Stone "the leader in the ascorbic acid field," and refers to his published work throughout.

Through his writings and lectures, Stone sought to educate people about the importance of nutrition and the role of Vitamin C in maintaining optimal health, with the ultimate purpose of lessening human suffering. Though publishing was difficult for Stone because his ideas were not accepted by mainstream medical science at the time, he persevered, publishing scientific research papers whenever possible and distributing those widely to different audiences.

In addition to his research endeavors, Stone was a prolific writer and lecturer, sharing his findings with both scientific communities and the general public. Between 1931-1968, he also published over 60 articles on brewing chemistry and made significant contributions to the brewing industries. He was issued 26 U.S. patents for brewing technology between 1934 and 1977, as well as numerous foreign patents. He was President of the American Society of Brewing Chemists from 1962-1963, and a life member of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, the American Chemical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, and Society of Sigma Xi. He was also a member of the Master Brewers Association of American, the Orthomolecular Medical Society, and a fellow of both the American Institute of Chemists and the Association of Official Analytical Chemists.

After retiring from Wallerstein in 1972, Stone devoted his time to advancing his assertion that humans did not naturally produce enough Vitamin C. He published The Healing Factor: Vitamin C Against Disease (1972). He founded a non-profit called IS-FACT (Irwin Stone Foundation for Ascorbate Capability and Therapy), mounting research and educational activities related to ascorbate. As part of this effort, he regularly produced newsletters reprinting scientific research papers on Vitamin C for users who did not have access to medical libraries. He referred to himself as a paleopathologist, based on his significant research into the history of human ascorbate production and the genetic mutation responsible for inhibiting ascorbic acid production.

In May 1984, while in Los Angeles to receive awards from the Academy of Orthomolecular Psychiatry, the Orthomolecular Medical Society, and the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine, Stone choked while eating due to effects of throat injuries from his 1954 accident and passed away. Stone was inducted into the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame in 2004, honoring his pioneering work and a legacy of innovation and discovery in the field of biochemistry.