Vitamin C in doses as high as one gram daily for several winter months , had no consistent beneficial effect on incidence of the common cold .
For both preventive and therapeutic trials , there was a consistently beneficial but generally modest therapeutic effect on duration of cold symptoms .
There was no clear indication of the relative benefits of different regimes or vitamin C doses .
However in trials that tested vitamin C after cold symptoms occurred , there was some evidence that a large dose produced greater benefits than lower doses .
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS Long term daily supplementation with vitamin C in large doses daily does not appear to prevent colds .
BACKGROUND The role of oral ascorbic acid ( vitamin C ) in the prevention and treatment of colds remains controversial despite many controlled trials .
There have also been a number of efforts to synthesize and /or overview the results of these trials , and controversy over what these overviews tell us .
OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to answer the following two questions : ( 1 ) Does regular high dosage supplementation with vitamin C reduce the incidence of colds ? (
2 ) Does taking vitamin C in high doses at the onset of a cold have a therapeutic effect ?
The administration of large doses of ascorbic acid in the prevention and treatment of the common cold. II.
Beginning at about the age of seven and following a tonsillectomy I began to be plagued with otitis media of which I suffered from 50 to 60 bouts over the next 20 years . These recurrent infections were treated by a series of different methods including Cubeb cigarette smoke blown into the ear by my mother , the local application of heat , sulfadiazine in nasal sprays and the earlier and later forms of injected penicillin which was useful as soon as I suffered from a sore throat if taken at the first signs of infection , but only for the secondary bacterial component of my double infection which began with a vims which appeared to pass the sentence which was executed by the bacteria . I stumbled upon the employment of ascorbic acid because of the advertisements for the bioflavonoids and vitamin C as beneficial in the prevention - and treatment of the common cold . It was apparent that the mixture diminished the symptoms of the common cold for me and for my wife , but not enough for us to continue with its employment , Would larger doses perhaps be more effective ? The doses were increased as each increment proved itself as giving better results until I reached a maximum and satisfactory effect . I did not permit myself to be dissuaded by the gloomy conclusions of others , whose work I continued to recognize had shown only that vitamin C had not been helpful against colds at the dosage used in their studies , and not the unmeasured generality that this drug had been proven utterly useless against colds . I was then able to suppress colds , at will , in five subjects . There is no doubt that we really suffered from colds during these suppressed versions of the disease , because we continued to be aware — but just aware — of whatever symptoms had been characteristic of our formerly unmodified colds . Although running of the nose would be practically non-existent , on rare occasions a single drop might appear at the nares ; however , not -a trace of " itchiness " had accompanied it in its roll down the turbinates . The thickened stage of nasal discharge was never reached . Sneezing and coughing were quite unusual . A throat did not proceed to " soreness " but , in some cases , there was a slight sensation of its presence . Hoarseness was uncommon . Headache was inconsequential . Malaise , if at all recognizable was usually so minor as to be undeserving of the name . Secondary bacterial invasions did not occur . I learned that the treatment had to be initiated early enough and needed to be continued at a high level for some time and then withdrawn or
Vitamin C in doses as high as one gram daily for several winter months , had no consistent beneficial effect on incidence of the common cold .
For both preventive and therapeutic trials , there was a consistently beneficial but generally modest therapeutic effect on duration of cold symptoms .
There was no clear indication of the relative benefits of different regimes or vitamin C doses .
However in trials that tested vitamin C after cold symptoms occurred , there was some evidence that a large dose produced greater benefits than lower doses .
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS Long term daily supplementation with vitamin C in large doses daily does not appear to prevent colds .
BACKGROUND The role of oral ascorbic acid ( vitamin C ) in the prevention and treatment of colds remains controversial despite many controlled trials .
There have also been a number of efforts to synthesize and /or overview the results of these trials , and controversy over what these overviews tell us .
OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to answer the following two questions : ( 1 ) Does regular high dosage supplementation with vitamin C reduce the incidence of colds ? (
2 ) Does taking vitamin C in high doses at the onset of a cold have a therapeutic effect ?