Vitamin C doesn't help the common cold

[jacob]

I've learned today that a new study reported at Cochrane Library, a respected medicine journal, looked over 30 different studies over the last 60 years and 11000 patients and concluded the taking Vitamin C to prevent or cure cold is totally useless and is just a waste of time and money, unlike the common believes that taking Vitamin C should help prevent cold.

They study showed that the benefit of Vitamin C was only about 2% in preventing cold, which is very insignificant and within error for the study.

[healthyfreak]

That news is disappointing to say the least. I currently take Vitamin C tablets twice a day and I have not gotten sick yet (knock on wood, lol). It might be a placebo effect, but I haven't gotten sick even though everyone around me is. Maybe Vitamin C isn't the principle agent to prevent colds but maybe it assist other one and makes their effect amplified. What do you think?

[Open Mind]

On the first signs of catching a cold, e.g. mild sore throat, I now suck a zinc supplement 15mg Zinc Citrate .......the problem is that most zinc mineral/vitamin tablets are designed to be swallowed whole and the taste is horribly metallic like. One cheap brand I find bearable to taste is from Healthspan with added vitamin C ... of course zinc is commonly added to throat lozenges but I am not convinced those pleasant sugar or honey loaded sweeties actually help or contain enough zinc to work as well as simply sucking a 15mg zinc tablet.... YUK ... but it works for me

If trying this do not take too much zinc! Read below ... don't go over 100mg for more than 3 days ......I never take anywhere near as much for it to help.

Zinc Therapy Reduces Duration of Colds

Zinc may provide relief from the annoying symptoms of a cold, including cough, sore throat and stuffy nose, new research suggests.

Researchers instructed 50 people with a cold to take a zinc lozenge containing 12.8 mg of zinc acetate, or a placebo, every 2 to 3 hours for as long as their symptoms persisted.

Each day, patients rated the severity of their symptoms including:

Sore throat
Runny nose
Congestion
Sneezing
Coughing
Scratchy throat
Hoarseness
Muscle ache
Headache
Fever.
The zinc group reported symptoms for an average of 4.5 days and those in the placebo group for about 8 days

Runny nose and cough appeared to respond best to the mineral. Coughing lasted about 6 days in the group of patients taking a placebo compared with 3 days in the group taking zinc.

Side effects of zinc lozenges included dry mouth and constipation but the mineral did not appear to lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or stomach cramps, the findings suggest.

But consuming high doses of the mineral for more than 3 days can be dangerous, investigators warn. Too much zinc can lead to a deficiency of copper, a rare condition that can disrupt normal growth and metabolism.

Researchers recommend that if there is no clear evidence of improvement after 3 days of zinc treatment, this could indicate something more serious than a simple cold.

The study was funded by a foundation related to the company holding the patent for zinc lozenges.

Some researchers suggest that zinc may help to reduce cytokines, immune system proteins that help to drive inflammation, but the current investigation found no significant differences in levels of cytokines between the two groups.

Annals of Internal Medicine August 15, 2000;133:245-252, 302.

Zinc Therapy Reduces Duration of Colds 9/3/00 zinc lozenges, common cold, sore throat, runny nose,