As always, great information! When given the history and all the main important details of how and why and what it pertains to makes the info so absorbable.
Thanks Robin! I actually really love exploring the history of why many of these belief systems come to be - just like in the BVO piece or even the paraben piece - understanding the origin helps to explain why these claims are unfounded and unsupported.
Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold suggested a possible benefit in certain situations.
Authors' conclusions:
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. Regular supplementation trials have shown that vitamin C reduces the duration of colds, but this was not replicated in the few therapeutic trials that have been carried out. Nevertheless, given the consistent effect of vitamin C on the duration and severity of colds in the regular supplementation studies, and the 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. Further therapeutic RCTs are warranted.
Thanks John for your comment - yes - that is a note - but if you review the actual study data - you’ll find that the stipulation there and the causal relationship (and the sample size) is quite weak - while it is certainly valuable to conduct more robust studies - the lack of evidence in nearly all other instances - and that’s not for lack of trying - suggest that time, money, resources, etc., would be much better served elsewhere, especially since vitamin C deficiency is quite uncommon and easy to get you ADI through diet.
As always, great information! When given the history and all the main important details of how and why and what it pertains to makes the info so absorbable.
Thanks Robin! I actually really love exploring the history of why many of these belief systems come to be - just like in the BVO piece or even the paraben piece - understanding the origin helps to explain why these claims are unfounded and unsupported.
To be fair, a 2013 Cochrane Review:
Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold suggested a possible benefit in certain situations.
Authors' conclusions:
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. Regular supplementation trials have shown that vitamin C reduces the duration of colds, but this was not replicated in the few therapeutic trials that have been carried out. Nevertheless, given the consistent effect of vitamin C on the duration and severity of colds in the regular supplementation studies, and the 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. Further therapeutic RCTs are warranted.
Thanks John for your comment - yes - that is a note - but if you review the actual study data - you’ll find that the stipulation there and the causal relationship (and the sample size) is quite weak - while it is certainly valuable to conduct more robust studies - the lack of evidence in nearly all other instances - and that’s not for lack of trying - suggest that time, money, resources, etc., would be much better served elsewhere, especially since vitamin C deficiency is quite uncommon and easy to get you ADI through diet.
Understood