LONDON: Scientists have found that taking a daily supplement of Vitamin C may not protect you from common cold.
Many people take daily doses of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) supplements because it is widely believed that it prevents coughs and colds.
But a review of 30 studies conducted over several decades that looked at over 11,000 people who took daily doses of at least 200 mg of supplements found that they have little preventive effect and are of no use at dealing with cold symptoms, reported Newswise wire .
For most people, the benefit of the popular remedy is so slight when it comes to colds that it is not worth the effort or expense, the scientists said.
“It doesn’t make sense to take Vitamin C 365 days a year to lessen the chance of catching a cold,” said co-author Harri Hemilä, a professor in the Department of Public Health at University of Helsinki in Finland.
The review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library , a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, which is an Oxford-based international organisation that evaluates medical research.
In the 1970s, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Linus Pauling popularised Vitamin C’s regular use.
His book, “Vitamin C and the Common Cold,” encouraged people to take 1,000 mg of the vitamin daily.
Source: The Times Of India
