Here are some interesting, thought-provoking quotes from the Hungarian, Nobel Prize-winning scientist. Few people know, but Albert Szent-Györgyi is not only famous for vitamin C, he is also credited with many other biochemical discoveries, a pioneer in bioelectronics or quantum biology and not far from the paleo principles.
‘Food is certainly one of the most important links between our bodies and the environment. The environment actually enters and permeates our bodies in the form of food. Vitamins are undoubtedly one of the most important factors in coordinating this relationship. I am convinced that if our bodies were placed back into the environment for which they were designed, they would function just as perfectly as the bodies of other living beings. Disease is an expression of the disharmony between our body and our environment. There is no such thing as healthy or not healthy. A fish is unwell on land and a rabbit is unwell under water. It all depends on the environment we are designed for.’ /Albert Szent-Györgyi – Health, disease and vitamins/
‘I am convinced that the human body is as perfect as that of our animal companions, and that its apparent imperfections arise from the disharmony between its structure and its environment. Man did not come into being on the pavement of the great cities. He evolved in some jungle over countless years and adapted himself strictly to the life of that jungle. Our civilization is recent and has not yet left its mark on our bodies. If we want to be healthy, we have to put our bodies back into the environment that they were designed for.’ /Albert Szent-Györgyi – Health, disease and vitamins/
What kind of environment is man evolved for? Surely it is good for us to live in an urban concrete jungle, surround ourselves with artificial electricity and lighting, eat processed, refined foods and lead sedentary, sedentary lifestyles?
‘We will truly approach an understanding of life when all structures and functions, all levels – from the electron level up to the level above the molecule – are fused into a single entity. Until then, however, our distinctions between structure and function, between classical chemical reactions and quantum mechanics, or between sub- and supramolecular, only show the limitations of our methods and our understanding.’ /Albert Szent-Györgyi – The living state/
‘It was a long time ago that I began to see that the wonderful sophistication of biological reactions could not be provided by molecules alone, and that for this purpose, in part, much smaller and more mobile units were needed, and for this there is hardly a more suitable candidate than the electron. The electrons are therefore necessarily the protagonists of the theatre of life, and the cumbersome, less reactive protein molecules are the stage for the drama.’ /Albert Szent-Györgyi – The living state of matter/
‘Can biologists afford to avoid the dimension of electrons because they are ignorant of the intricacies of quantum mechanics? At present, the number of people who understand both sciences, biology and quantum mechanics, is very small. It may never be very large, given the limitations of human life and the human brain. Both sciences require a full mind and a full life. Therefore, at least today, progress depends on some kind of hybridization.’ /Albert Szent-Györgyi – On my scientific career/
Far ahead of his contemporaries, Szent-Györgyi was already thinking at the level of the electrons, which requires knowledge of the laws of quantum mechanics.
So if you think “only” at the level of hormones, carbohydrates, fats, you get partial truths at best, and wrong conclusions about the functioning of the living world at worst.
We can see that vitamin C is only a small part of the Hungarian professor’s work, and it is worth recalling what he was working on.