Does Vitamin C Help Fight Colds

Now science has tackled those claims and came up with a conclusion. Vitamin C is commonly used for colds and the flu with the belief that it can cure or treat them.

Does Vitamin C Really Help Colds Live Science

But findings have been inconsistent.

Does vitamin c help fight colds. Additional evidence suggests that soldiers professional athletes and others who undergo highly stressful situations could receive an immune system boost from vitamin C. Vitamin C has been studied for many years as a possible treatment for colds or as a way to help prevent colds. Weve all heard that vitamin C wards off colds or can at least shorten their duration.

He published a book about cold prevention using megadoses of vitamin C or up to 18000 mg. Researchers have studied the role that vitamin C aka ascorbic acid plays in preventing and treating the common cold for more than 70 years. Vitamin C is often touted as a natural cold remedy.

But is that just an old wives tale. Finally there is some evidence of special circumstances in which vitamin C can help. Overall experts have found little.

Vitamin C does not prevent colds. The data suggest that it can reduce duration of colds slightly but it does not prevent or reduce the severity of colds for most people. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold The failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified yet vitamin C may be useful for people exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise.

However this idea is not confirmed by science. Still more research would be needed to confirm this theory. Whats the best kind of Vitamin C for you this winter.

According to the researchers one possible explanation is that vitamin C lowers the severity of cold symptoms such as chills and coughs. Vitamin C is an important nutrient found in fruit and vegetables that may help shorten the duration and severity of colds. If you are taking vitamin C while you have a cold.

Nobel prize winner Dr. The nutrient is featured in supplements promising to boost the immune system. We still dont quite know all the facts.

But Pauling had little evidence to back his claim. According to the NIH Overall the evidence to date suggests that regular intakes of vitamin C at doses of at least 200 mg per day do not reduce the incidence of. This may be part of why all other things being equal youre more likely to get a cold when youre stressed.

It appears that taking vitamin C wont usually help the average person prevent colds. They use a significant amount of Vitamin C each time a stress response gets triggered. Vitamin C was also shown to reduce the duration of a cold slightly in these trials.

This new study provides an interesting wrinkle in that vitamin C was shown to be effective even in a warm weather location like Phoenix Arizona. Some studies of people living in extreme circumstances including soldiers in subarctic exercises skiers and marathon runners have found a significant reduction in the risk of developing a cold with vitamin c by nearly 50. Vitamin C does support a healthy immune system.

Linus Pauling famously claimed that taking large doses of vitamin C helps thwart a cold. You might think that pure Vitamin C would be the best form to supplement with. People exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise andor cold.

So if youre not getting enough vitamin C you will be more susceptible to colds. However some studies have found that taking vitamin C before cold symptoms start may shorten the length of time you have symptoms. Linus Pauling famously claimed in the 1970s that high doses of vitamin C prevented the common cold says Mike Sevilla a family physician in Salem Ohio.

Another interesting aspect of this study was vitamin C supplementation increasing physical activity. Around 1970 Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling popularized the theory that vitamin C helps treat colds. High doses are being studied for.

Does Vitamin C Work Against Colds Labdoor Magazine