Dear Dr. Fritz,
I hope you have a wonderful day. I am someone who always gets colds. My friend told me that I would be better if I took vitamin C. I wanted to know if this is true. As a matter of fact, I tried vitamin C as my daily vitamin. The problem is, I always forget taking them.
Thank you very much for your response.
Marie M.
Dear Marie M.,
Well, let me get to you frankly: Vitamin C CANNOT make your colds get better?
There were at least 10 studies that looked into this, and they reported that taking vitamin C made no difference in symptom duration or severity. Meaning that if you start taking vitamin C when your symptoms begin, it does nothing. And if you’re somebody who starts taking vitamin C tablets when you get sick or a cold, then, again, sadly, it does nothing, according
to the Cochrane review.
Actually, you can take vitamin C as your daily supplement, and I can vouch for that. But this can be inconvenient. As a matter of fact, you always forget to take them. But even if you take vitamin C every day, this will still not prevent you from getting sick. As a matter of fact, the incidence of common colds is not reduced in the general population who were taking vitamin C regularly.
But, all hope is not lost for vitamin C because taking it every day can make your symptoms go away faster, as shown in a 2013 review. According to their analysis, this reduces cold symptom duration by 7.7% on average. This means that if your cold lasts for five days, which is about 120 hours, your cold will go away nine hours faster.
Well, that’s it. Hope it helps. Good luck!
Dr. Fritz
(Dr. Fritz Legarde Espedilla is an aesthetic dermatologist, surgeon, and clinical sexologist. She is also trained in hypnotherapy and Medical Acupuncture. She has been in the broadcast media for more than a decade and has written a book based on her 15-year stint
with her radio program, “Healthy is Sexy Secrets ni Dr. Fritz.”. For your questions, you may send them to Dear Dr. Fritz, c/o Sunstar-Davao Publishing Inc., Door 11, Ebro-Pelayo
Building 1, Juan Luna St., Barangay 29-C, Davao City, or e-mail them to dokatlaw@gmail.com. If you don’t wish your letter to be published, we regret that we cannot
answer them. Thank you for your understanding.)