Common flu, or just cold, is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. Cold is commonplace, and is a significant cause for absenteeism from work and school. Even before the discovery of vitamin C, folklore says that certain fruits are effective in preventing and treating the flu. After scientific identification of vitamin C in the early part of the 20th century, research began the possibility of a vitamin effect on the common cold.
Vitamin C does not decrease the frequency of colds in the general population, but has halved the frequency of colds in people under severe short-term physical stress. There is no effect of taking vitamin C in doses up to 8 grams per day after a cold has started.
Video Vitamin C and the common cold
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Vitamin C was identified in the early twentieth century, and there is much interest in the possible effects on various infections including the common cold. Some controlled trials on the effects of vitamin C on the common cold were done already in the 1940s, the earliest of these seeming to be placebo-controlled trials published in 1945. Topics became very popular after 1970 when Linus Pauling, a Twice Nobel Laureate , wrote a best-selling book, Vitamin C and Common Cold, suggesting that a daily dose of one gram of vitamin C can prevent the common cold. Pauling's book brings great interest to topics among lay people, as well as among academics. After Pauling's book, a number of controlled trials were conducted. However, interest was reduced after the mid-1970s, apparently due to the publication of two reviews and one major study which all concluded that vitamin C did not affect the common cold.
Maps Vitamin C and the common cold
Research
According to the latest Cochrane review of vitamin C and common cold, one gram per day or more of vitamin C does not affect the common flu incident in the general population, that is, it does not prevent colds. However, in five randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials with participants who were under short-term physical stress - especially marathoners, skiers and soldiers in subarctic conditions, vitamin C reduced half the incidence of colds. The same review reports that for people taking vitamin C regularly, vitamins shorten the duration of colds in adults by 8% and in children by 18%. Severity is also reduced. However, if vitamin C starts only when the first symptoms of fever are felt, there is no benefit for the duration or severity.
See also
- Vitamin C megadosage
- Reviews Vitamin C, Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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