| Title |
Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Cochrane database of systematic reviews, April 1998
|
| DOI | 10.1002/14651858.cd000980 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Douglas, RM, Chalker, EB, Treacy, B |
| Abstract |
The role of oral ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in the prevention and treatment of colds remains controversial despite many controlled trials. There have also been a number of efforts to synthesize and/or overview the results of these trials, and controversy over what these overviews tell us. The objective of this review was to answer the following two questions: (1) Does regular high dosage supplementation with vitamin C reduce the incidence of colds? (2) Does taking vitamin C in high doses at the onset of a cold have a therapeutic effect? This review currently deals only with published trials from two previously published reviews by Kleijnen 1989 and Hemila 1992. Randomised and non-randomised trials of vitamin C taken to prevent or treat the common cold. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Thirty trials were included. The quality of the included trials was variable. Vitamin C in doses as high as one gram daily for several winter months, had no consistent beneficial effect on incidence of the common cold. For both preventive and therapeutic trials, there was a consistently beneficial but generally modest therapeutic effect on duration of cold symptoms. This effect was variable, ranging from -0.07% to a 39% reduction in symptom days. The weighted difference across all of the studies revealed a reduction of a little less than half a symptom day per cold episode, representing an 8% to 9% reduction in symptom days. There was no clear indication of the relative benefits of different regimes or vitamin C doses. However in trials that tested vitamin C after cold symptoms occurred, there was some evidence that a large dose produced greater benefits than lower doses. Long term daily supplementation with vitamin C in large doses daily does not appear to prevent colds. There appears to be a modest benefit in reducing duration of cold symptoms from ingestion of relatively high doses of vitamin C. The relation of dose to therapeutic benefit needs further exploration. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 124 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Colombia | 18 | 15% |
| United States | 6 | 5% |
| Saudi Arabia | 4 | 3% |
| Spain | 3 | 2% |
| Argentina | 3 | 2% |
| Brazil | 3 | 2% |
| Thailand | 3 | 2% |
| Ireland | 2 | 2% |
| Canada | 2 | 2% |
| Other | 11 | 9% |
| Unknown | 69 | 56% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 120 | 97% |
| Scientists | 2 | 2% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | <1% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | <1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 94 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 93 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 17 | 18% |
| Other | 11 | 12% |
| Student > Master | 10 | 11% |
| Researcher | 9 | 10% |
| Librarian | 6 | 6% |
| Other | 8 | 9% |
| Unknown | 33 | 35% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 14 | 15% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 13 | 14% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 7 | 7% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 6 | 6% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 5 | 5% |
| Other | 16 | 17% |
| Unknown | 33 | 35% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 498. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 November 2023.
All research outputs
#52,723
of 25,611,630 outputs
Outputs from Cochrane database of systematic reviews
#100
of 13,150 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#10
of 33,571 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Cochrane database of systematic reviews
#2
of 15 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,611,630 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 13,150 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 35.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 15 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.