Sorry, Vitamin C Isn’t The Miracle Cure Your Mom Told You It Was
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You’ve probably heard that to avoid getting sick, you need to make sure you’re taking in plenty of vitamin C. Maybe you’ve also heard it helps you feel better sooner if you’ve already developed a nasty cold. Is there any truth to vitamin C being a big cure-all for what ails you? Probably not, but there is a little bit of good news. Let’s take a look.
Vitamin C & the common cold
The common cold is caused by any number of respiratory viruses. A virus cannot be treated with antibiotics. Usually, the person who is suffering from a cold just has to manage symptoms while they wait for their illness to end. It’s no wonder, then, that people are very interested in finding something that will either prevent colds in the first place — or will shorten their duration.
Unfortunately, vitamin C doesn’t seem to prevent most people from catching a cold. A large-scale study by the University of Helsinki in Finland looked over 29 medical trials that involved 11,306 people who used at least 200 milligrams per day of vitamin C supplementation. They didn’t find any evidence that taking vitamin C daily reduced most people’s risk of catching a cold. There were a few outliers, though, as marathon runners and skiers did show a risk reduction of around 50 percent, which is great news if you’re a serious athlete.