Vitamin C and the Common Cold - A Modern Myth

As I am writing this, I am down with the cold. This is really no surprise as it is cold season and almost everyone I met during the last week either was sick or is sick now. My best friend and his family, who I am staying with, are firm believers in the vitamin C supplement intervention. It is common practice to take a vitamin C supplement as soon as any symptoms of the cold arise. Vitamin C supplements are a multi-million dollar business. But is the hype justified? Can we cure the cold with a simple vitamin C supplement?

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The Current State of Affairs

A simple google search reveals that there are hundreds if not thousands of vitamin C supplements. Many of them claim to support your immune system, or to ease the symptoms of the cold. My mum used to give me hot lemon water, claiming the vitamin C would help my immune system overcome the cold.
Linus Pauling, a Nobel Laureate in chemistry, was a great supporter of vitamin C therapies, and recommended very high daily
dosages of vitamin C.

First, for good health I recommend the regular ingestion of an adequate amount of ascorbic acid. I estimate that for many people 1 g [gram] to 2 g per day (1000 mg to 2000 mg per day) is approximately the optimum rate of ingestion.

• Linus Pauling

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There are several other reasons why vitamin C has such a good reputation. During the early ages of globalization, when ships were sailing around the globe searching for riches in strange lands, many sailors suffered from a disease we know as scurvy. This disease was caused by a deficiency of vitamin C and was overcome by consuming a daily dose of lime juice and sauerkraut.

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Vitamin C has a history of healing us. Modern chemistry has made it easy to synthesize vitamin C and other vitamins and marketing had created a hype about vitamin supplements. Companies have created a 6 billion dollar industry selling multivitamin supplements. It is common knowledge that vitamin C has almost magical healing power. But what does the scientific evidence suggest?

A Scientific Inquiry

First of all, what is the cold? According to the Mayo Clinic the common cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. Most of the time it is harmless, and usually lasts about a week. Healthy adults can experience a cold infection two to three times a year. Thus, it is questionable if there even is a need to treat the cold in healthy adults. But let me go back and talk about the role of vitamin C in treating the common cold. There have been several studies that were performed to test the effect of vitamin C supplements on the common cold. These studies have observed a large group of people over multiple years. Groups of people were instructed to take different doses of vitamin C and to go to regular check-ups. They were questioned about how often they had a cold and about the severity of their symptoms. No study reported a statistically significant positive effect of vitamin C on cold duration or severity.
There seem to be negative effects of taking vitamin C supplements. These may be due to the antioxidant activity of vitamin C. Antioxidant capture and neutralize radicals, which are very reactive chemical species that can potentially harm the body by disrupting cell functions. They can even damage the DNA and induce mutations. However, radicals also serve as messengers in our body, which are important in controlling vital body functions. Overdosing antioxidants can interfere with the messaging pathways. A recent study has shown that taking vitamin supplements can decrease the effects of exercise.

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Conclusion

Studies have shown that vitamin C has only a minimal, non-significant effect on the common cold. Thus, there is no scientific reason for taking vitamin C supplements. Vitamin C is only beneficial to people who have deficiencies or other health impairments, such as long term smokers.
I do want to make a balanced argument. While I argued against the effect of vitamin C on the common cold, I must say that vitamin C seems to have a positive effect in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. However, we usually get sufficient amounts of vitamin C in our diet. Thus, a balanced diet, consisting of healthy fat from fish and nuts, and a good amount of colorful fruits and leafy vegetables is probably the best prevention of disease.

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Sources

https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/vitamin-c-for-common-cold#1
https://www.nature.com/articles/1602261
http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020168
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12291-013-0375-3
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2013.267419/full
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/excerpts_from_vitamin_c_and_the_common_cold_by_linus_pauling
https://www.peakenergy.com/articles/nh20130903/The-marketing-myth-of-’vitamin-C-complex’/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/the-mystery-of-vitamin-c-14167861
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/symptoms-causes/syc-20351605

For graphs and data, I recommend you to click through my sources. This is only a survey. Thank you for reading! I would greatly appreciate feedback and I am looking forward to having a discussion! Also, if you liked this content, please upvote and share. Check out my blog for some of my other work. I have a series about chemical instrumentation and evil geniuses. If you like my work, please follow me to stay up to date.
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