Dr. Ronald Hunninghake is an internationally recognized expert on vitamin C who has personally supervised more than 60,000 intravenous (IV) vitamin C administrations. In this interview, Dr. Hunninghake shares his experience with this important modality.The requested URL /?p=3670 was not found on this server.Each week, MyHealthNewsDaily asks the experts to answer questions about your health. This week, we asked nutrition and infectious disease experts: Does vitamin C help prevent or treat colds? Joy Dubost, registered dietician and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association The science shows that overall, regular ingestion of vitamin C had no effect on the common cold, as far as in the incidence (or how common colds are). Now, most of these studies looked at people who took more than 2,000 mg of vitamin C, which is a very large dose. The recommended dietary allowance, or RDA, is 75 mg for most adults, and 2,000 mg is the upper limit — you don't want to go over that because you'll have gastrointestinal distress.
[Vitamin C] does support a healthy immune system. So if you're not getting enough vitamin C, you will be more susceptible to colds. If you are taking vitamin C while you have a cold, it could prevent complications such as pneumonia by boosting your immune system. Dr. Mark Levine, chief of molecular and clinical nutrition in National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases For the average person, vitamin C supplements for colds don't do much of anything, and I don't recommend them. After I say that I like to explain why: There are a lot of trials on vitamin C and colds, of variable quality and people analyze these, so there are analyses of analyses. You can take vitamin C to prevent colds, or you can take vitamin C once you have a cold to treat it. The treatment trials show a modest benefit. But the reality is in terms of that effect, I don't think it has clinical meaning. In the prophylaxis trials — and prophylaxis means to prevent — the prophylaxis trials [show] in the average person, [Vitamin C doesn't] prevent colds.
Our bodies are configured to keep vitamin C levels within a particular range… As you take in more vitamin C, the amount you absorb from each dose goes down. Then once it is absorbed and goes in the blood, there are proteins on the cell that bring vitamin C into the tissue, and those proteins can't work any faster. Then the excess vitamin C is excreted through the kidneys. Overall, I say eat more fruits and vegetables. Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. In terms of vitamin C for colds, we need to separate prevention from treatment. On the prevention side the studies are clearly divided. There are some studies that show that taking Vitamin C – usually in fairly large doses – provides some protection against the common cold. But there other studies that show no effect. There are studies of different sizes and quality on both sides of the conclusions. So we (as doctors) have not voted on that one yet.
But, I would say this: that the people who usually advocate taking vitamin C usually advocate taking it in fairly large doses. If you take vitamin C in fairly large doses you're going to excrete a lot of it out in your urine. And if you're dehydrated, that vitamin C is going to form little crystals, which can be painful. So make sure you're drinking lots of water if you are taking vitamin C. In terms of treatment – there's no evidence that it shortens the course or reduces the symptoms. In other words, there's no evidence that it makes your cold feel better. Dr. Aaron E. Glatt, spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America and professor of clinical medicine, NY Medical College in Rockville Centre, NY The general answer is probably not a lot. Vitamin C has a checkered history in terms of some studies showing mild benefits, while other studies do not show benefits for upper respiratory viral infections like the common cold. On the whole, I don't think that vitamin C is something people should be jumping to take beyond the regular dietary recommendations.
When you deal with any supplement and you are taking very large doses, it can potentially be problematic. There have been reports of complications and side effects from high doses of supplements, and studies have never demonstrated that super-pharmacological doses are helpful for any disease. In essence, by taking such large doses you are just potentially taking health risks and having an unnecessary expense. I just tell people to have a normal diet, and drink a glass of orange juice or two if you like. I do not recommend taking high doses of any supplements. Shelley McGuire, national spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition and an associate professor of nutrition at Washington State University What we know is that people who eat a lot of naturally occurring vitamin C in foods, do have a lower risk for the common cold. However when scientists isolate just vitamin C and do studies, they're very rarely able to show vitamin C reduces the incidence (how often someone catches a cold) or the severity of a cold.
There is some evidence that people who are in stressful situations — and by that I mean people who are marathon runners, soldiers or people training in the arctic — may benefit from some sort of vitamin C supplementation in terms of incidence of their colds. That may be because their vitamin C requirements may be higher. So it's kind of a mixed bag. The problem with science sometimes is that we try to reduce these foods down to a specific nutrient and it's probably way more complex than that. Nutrients don't work in isolation, they don't, they work with other nutrients.Why high-dose vitamin C kills cancer cells Why high-dose vitamin C kills cancer cellsWhy high-dose vitamin C kills cancer cells Carver College of Medicine StudentsFacultyAlumni & FriendsNews Media cancer researchclinical trialslung cancerpancreatic cancervitamin Creactive oxygen speciesVitamin C is more commonly known as a vitamin that is needed for the growth and repair of our tissues, such as our bones and skin, supporting our immune system, and as a powerful antioxidant which helps fight free radicals caused by today’s modern lifestyle.
However, vitamin C can also be an effective natural remedy for constipation. Higher doses of vitamin C have been shown to have a laxative effect, which can provide some welcome relief for constipation sufferers. It works by increasing the speed of the digestive process, thereby increasing the frequency of bowel movements and allowing food matter to pass quicker through the intestines and prevent blockages or build up. The UK RDA (recommended daily allowance) for adults is 40mg a day, which we generally get quite easily from our diets through fruit and vegetables. For constipation though, this will vary on the individual but you can take between 2,000-5000mg a day to help relieve your symptoms – this should be split over equal doses (e.g. 1000mg in the morning and 1000mg in the evening). In order to get such high doses to help treat your constipation you will need to buy a supplement as it is nigh on possible to get this amount just from food. To get 2000mg a day you’d have to be eating over 20 oranges!
You must build up the amount of vitamin C you take gradually though – do not start straight away, for example, with 3,000mg as this can cause diarrhoea, flatulence and stomach cramp in some people. Start slowly with 500mg a day and gradually increase by 500mg a day until you find the level that works for you. Please note: Do not start taking high doses of vitamin C if you have any other health condition, are taking any medication or are pregnant or trying to fall pregnant – you must speak to your GP first. As always, there’s a whole host of companies now providing vitamin C supplements – dissolvable, chewable, liquid and as a tablet. The physical form of vitamin C is completely up to you and how you would prefer to take it. Some people prefer a dissolvable or chewable form as they are easier to take, especially for those who hate swallowing tablets. But there are then a number of different types of vitamin C, some of which you may find cause other symptoms such as acid reflux or bloating.
I would therefore recommend you look for one of two different types to help tackle constipation: The Allergy Research Group do a great range of different vitamin C products, and in different forms, which I would recommend if you suffer from constipation. The RDA for children under the age of 10 years is 30mg a day. If however your child is suffering from constipation, which is quite common, then you can give them extra vitamin C (in split doses as I mentioned above) to help get things moving. Again, start slowly and increase over time up to around 400mg a day for children under the age of 3 years old and up to 650 mg for those under 10 years. I would strongly advise you speak to your doctor first though and do not give high dose vitamin C to babies under 1 year old without seeking medical advice first. An ester-C or buffered vitamin C would be best to support their sensitive stomachs as well and prevent any additional side effects. You can read more about child constipation here.