Taking vitamin C pills can help healthy people get over colds faster, meaning they spend less time stuck at home or missing school—about 15% less time, according to some studies.

39

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

39

Community contributions welcome

39

Vitamin C reduces the severity of common colds: a meta-analysis

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

2023 Dec 11

The study looked at whether vitamin C helps with colds and found it reduces how bad colds get by about 15%, which matches what 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 reduces the severity of common colds: a meta-analysis

Score: 39

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-17229-8

Similar Assertions

People who often get colds or are around young kids might get more benefit from vitamin C, helping them spend fewer days stuck at home sick.

0

39

85%

Taking vitamin C pills every day might make your colds less severe, according to some studies that looked at healthy people.

39

0

84%

Taking vitamin C regularly might help you get over a cold faster—about 8% quicker for adults and 14% for kids, according to a big study.

33

0

83%

Taking vitamin C pills every day doesn't really help prevent colds for most people, according to research.

33

0

79%

Taking vitamin C pills might make your cold symptoms less severe if you're a healthy person.

39

0

79%