Can Vitamin C Prevent Colds?

Recently, due to weather changes and the prevalence of various winter upper respiratory pathogens, more and more people are catching colds. I believe everyone has heard of the three essential things for catching a cold: "drink water, rest, and take vitamin C."

Can Vitamin C Prevent Colds?

The latest scientific evidence shows that taking 1-2 grams of vitamin C per day for a short period of time (3-5 days) after a cold can relieve symptoms and prevent the condition from getting worse. However, there is no evidence that large doses of vitamin C can prevent colds.

However, most studies believe that there is no harm in taking some vitamin C during the peak period of colds or when you have already caught a cold; especially if you are already deficient in vitamin C, supplementing it is still beneficial.

Image source: Gaoding Design

What are the effects of vitamin C

For colds, vitamin C mainly exerts its therapeutic effects through the following aspects.

1. Promote immune defense

Vitamin C can support immune cell function and enhance the protective effect of the skin and respiratory mucosa. It can accumulate in neutrophils and macrophages, helping them to quickly respond to microbial invasion. In addition, vitamin C can also reduce the efficiency of viral replication.

2. Antioxidant

Vitamins C and E work synergistically to protect sulfhydryl groups from damage by oxidative free radicals, maintain the balance of the redox environment, prevent colds, protect the vascular endothelium, and prevent atherosclerosis.

3. Anti-inflammatory response

Infection can lead to overactivation of macrophages, which in turn produce inflammatory mediators and nitric oxide (NO). Studies have shown that vitamin C can reduce overactivated immune responses and reduce inflammatory indicators such as serum ferritin and D-dimer in patients.

How to supplement vitamin C

Adults can avoid scurvy by taking 10 mg of vitamin C per day. Women should take no less than 75 mg and men should take no less than 90 mg. The maximum intake should not exceed 200 mg.

Vitamin C is found in fresh fruits and vegetables, with the highest content in lemons, oranges, green vegetables and tomatoes.

In daily life, we can get enough vitamin C through a balanced diet. However, the physical and chemical properties of vitamin C are not stable. Factors such as long storage time, adding a lot of salt, and stewing for too long will cause the vitamin C in the food to be lost.

Therefore, the following points should be noted when processing vegetables with high vitamin C content:

1. Use less salt and keep the stir-frying and stewing time as short as possible.

2. If it can be eaten raw, it is best to wash it and eat it raw.

3. Wash vegetables before cutting them when cooking.

4. Fry the vegetables right after cutting them, and try to shorten their exposure to the air.

5. Do not use copper utensils to cook, try to use iron pans.

Image source: Gaoding Design

Can you get enough vitamin C by eating only fruits when you have a cold?

When you are sick, your immune system is depleted, and vitamin C is lost due to fever, sweating, and other reasons, so your body's demand for vitamin C increases dramatically. The latest research shows that at least 1 gram of vitamin C per day is needed to treat a cold, and generally no more than 2 grams per day. However, during a cold, your appetite usually decreases, making it difficult to get enough vitamin C from your daily diet, so you need to consider dietary supplements or medications to increase your intake.

Currently, there are many forms of vitamin C on the market, such as vitamin C tablets, vitamin C injection, vitamin C granules, vitamin C effervescent tablets, vitamin C effervescent granules, compound vitamin C sodium chewable tablets, etc. When suffering from the common cold, a large amount of water is lost along with vitamin C, and since vitamin C can be quickly dissolved in water, it is recommended that patients with the common cold use vitamin C tablets or effervescent tablets for supplementation, and drink more water when taking it.

However, excessive vitamin C supplementation may increase the risk of urinary stones and is not suitable for people with a history of gout or urinary stones. Large doses of vitamin C can also affect coagulation function, so patients who are taking anticoagulants should not take excessive supplements.

In preventing disease

Reasonable diet and scientific exercise

Equally important

I wish you all a healthy body