Taking vitamin C after you already have cold symptoms doesn't make your cold shorter or less severe compared to taking a fake pill.

33

Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

33

Community contributions welcome

33

Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold.

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

2007 Jul 18

The study looked at taking vitamin C after cold symptoms start and found it doesn't make colds shorter or less severe, just like the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold.

Score: 33

DOI: 10.1002/14651858.cd000980.pub3

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