Vitamin C May Help Reduce Incidence of Common Cold

With over 200 viruses that can its symptoms, the common cold is a primary source of absenteeism from work and school, and a major cause of doctor’s visits.  Whereas Vitamin C gained much popularity from research by Nobel laureate Linus Pauling in the 1970s, data varies as to whether it can prevent and/or treat the common cold.   Hemila Harri, from the University of Helsinki (Finland), and colleagues completed a meta-analysis of 29 clinical trials enrolling 11,306 subjects that involved Vitamin C and the common cold.  The team found that Vitamin C seems to be particularly beneficial for people under heavy physical stress. In five randomized trials of participants with heavy short-term physical stress, vitamin C halved the incidence of the common cold.  Further, in a recent randomized trial carried out with adolescent competitive swimmers, vitamin C halved the duration of colds in males (but had no effect among  female subjects).   Regular doses of vitamin C of one gram per day or higher have reduced the average duration of colds in adults by 8% and in children by 18%.  Writing that: “vitamin C may be useful for people exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise,” the study authors submit that: “[due to its] low cost and safety, it may be worthwhile for common cold patients to test on an individual basis whether therapeutic vitamin C is beneficial for them.”