Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold

Abstract

Whether vitamin C has an effect on the common cold has been a subject of controversy for at least 60 years. What does the evidence show?

Figure 1. 500-mg Vitamin C Tablets and Paprikas

Vitamin C was identified in the 1930s by Albert Szent-Györgyi, who received his Nobel Prize partly for this work. He found that paprika is a particularly rich source of the vitamin, which made it possible to produce kilograms of it for research purposes ([1963] Annu Rev Biochem 32: 1–14). Nowadays, the most convenient way to increase vitamin C intake is by way of 500-mg tablets, but further research is needed to explore the conditions in which supplementation may be beneficial.