Vitamin C supplementation and the common cold: a persuasive analysis

Vitamin C for Common Cold

What is Vitamin C?

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble ingredient that is essential for the health of human beings. It is essential for normal growth and development and it has consumed regularly. Since Vitamin C dissolves in water, the excess amounts leave the human body through urine and this means the body needs a constant supply of this vitamin everyday. The body cannot store vitamin C in any form.

One of the primary role of vitamin C is to repair the body cells and tissues and to prevent free radicals and toxins from getting accumulated in the body. It repairs wounds and makes them heal faster. The free radicals are known to play a role in cancer and heart diseases and good amount of vitamin C everyday helps to prevent any damage.

Sources of vitamin C

Most fruits and vegetables contain some amounts of vitamin C Some of the fruits with the highest levels of vitamin C include citrus fruits, cantaloupes, papaya, melons and berries. Vegetables like broccoli, peppers, green leafy vegetables and tomatoes contain high amounts of vitamin C Besides these natural foods, vitamin C can also be consumed through fortified cereals and juices. It is best to eat these foods raw as cooking reduces the vitamin C content.

Vitamin C and common cold

Many people take vitamin C to get relief from common colds. Is this really effective? The idea of taking vitamin C for cold was first brought forth by a scientist called Linus Pauling about 30 years ago. This Nobel prize winner became one of the first advocates of vitamin C supplements to fight the common cold. Many researchers delved into the connection between vitamin C and common cold and found that taking vitamin C in small doses, typically one gram at the onset of a cold helped to reduce the duration by half a day and the severity by about 40% (SienKiewicz, Piche & Whitney, 2011). Also, it is likely to have more effect in children than adults.

Reduces blood histamine

Another research showed that taking two grams of vitamin C daily for two weeks reduced blood histamine. People who suffer from frequent colds understand the effects of histamine better than others. It causes running nose and swollen sinuses, making it rather uncomfortable for people who suffer from frequent bouts of cold. Most medications found in drug stores provide relief against histamine more than cold and this is exactly what regular doses of vitamin C will help to accomplish. By taking vitamin C through natural sources such as fruits and vegetables, one can steer away from the artificial medications that contain a whole lot of other chemicals as well.

Boosts immunity

Vitamin C also contains antioxidants that boost the body's immunity and help it to prevent diseases such as colds. When the body's defense improves, it is in a better position to thwart off bacteria and viruses that can cause conditions such as cold. This is another way vitamin C helps the body to fight against the common cold.

Medical Research

Deficiency of vitamin C is believed to lead to scurvy and that in turn, is associated with a high degree of pneumonia. Since vitamin C was identified in 1930s, there was a lot of interest on its ability to fight scurvy and the associated pneumonia. In 1942, two trials were conducted on schools children to better understand its effect on pneumonia and it was found that it reduced the incidence of occurrence of colds and pneumonia drastically.

In another research popularly called as the Sheffield trial, the effects of consuming vitamin C was tested on two groups of people. The first group was given vitamin C in adequate doses while the other group was not given vitamin C at all. It was examined that those belonging to the first group had cold for a mean duration of only 3.3 days while those in the other group had cold for a mean duration of 6.4 days. The duration of the second group was almost twice that of the first group and this shed new light on the effects of vitamin C on common cold. These early studies clearly proved that consuming vitamin C in moderate doses helped to fight off common cold among people.

Another recent research that took place in mid 1990s was undertaken to understand the impact on vitamin C on certain groups of people who are under a lot of physical stress. Long distance marathon runners tend to have a higher incidence of respiratory problems because they are constantly out of breath and are not well-hydrated all the time. Moreover, extended running constricts the airways and leads to bronchitis and other lung-related diseases. So, for these groups of people, the chances of cold was high and frequent. These groups were administered vitamin C in moderate doses and the results were positive. When they were given a daily dose of vitamin C, the chances for colds and respiratory problems decreased.

The same experiment was also tried on Canadian troops during winter and school children who attended a skiing camp in the Swiss Alps. Both these groups also exhibited similar results and this led researchers to conclude that there is definitely a connection between vitamin C and the incidence of common cold (Eccles & Weber, 2009).