the jury is out on whether vitamin c can prevent a cold. and according to the latest research vitamin c doesn’t make a cold shorter or less severe. although experts do not recommend upping your dosage for that purpose some say it may help ward off germs if you’ve been exposed to physical or environmental stress -- for example with especially strenuous exercise or exposure to bitter cold weather. even so some people swear by it. “i have some vitamin c in my diet every day but i bump the dose up when i get sick ” says lauren richter do assistant professor of family and community medicine at the university of maryland center for integrative medicine. “generally it will reduce the length of the symptoms by at least a day or two and also will help with the severity ” she says. an extra 500 milligrams a day is about all you need.
does vitamin c help colds?