Is it true that… you should take vitamin C when you’ve got a cold? | Alternative medicine

‘VItamin C is important for your health in many ways,” says Daniel M Davis, director of life sciences at Imperial College London. It is a powerful antioxidant, helping to protect cells against harmful unstable compounds from toxins and pollution. It helps the body absorb iron and is also used in the production of collagen. “But the idea that taking high doses of vitamin C – or drinking lots of orange juice – will prevent you from catching a cold or you will help you recover faster is a myth.”

Davis, the author of Self Defense: A Myth-Busting Guide to Immune Health, explains that popular belief in the cold-fighting powers of vitamin C has persisted for more than 50 years, “pretty much solely because of the evangelical viewpoint of one man: Linus Pauling.”

A two-time Nobel Prize winner and one of the most influential chemists of the 20th century, Pauling made a major contribution to our understanding of vitamins. However, he exaggerated the benefits of vitamin C. Pauling’s 1970 book, Vitamin C and the Common Cold, became a bestseller, Davis says, sparking such high demand that factories were built to keep up with supplement production.

In fact, research shows that people who take vitamin C supplements are just as likely to catch a cold as those who don’t. And although supplementation may slightly reduce the duration of symptoms (by about 8% in adults), the effect is modest.

“It’s also difficult to interpret this data,” says Davis, “because people who regularly take high doses of vitamin C are often more concerned about their overall health.”

Instead, he recommends focusing on vitamin D if you want to fight disease. “It’s much more clearly established than its importance for immune health,” he says. Vitamin D is available through sun exposure between March and October, but the NHS suggests that in winter people may want to take it as a supplement.