Health Claims

Taking vitamin C might help people who are stressed and in cold weather get over bad colds faster, cutting the time sick by about half, but we're not totally sure because only a few studies have...

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.

Vitamin C helps reduce bad cold symptoms a lot (by about a quarter), but doesn't really help with mild cold symptoms. This is based on studies of over 2700 colds.

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

When scientists look at studies about vitamin D preventing colds and flu, it seems like some smaller studies showing vitamin D doesn't work might be missing. This could make vitamin D look more...

Taking vitamin D supplements doesn't really change your chance of having serious side effects, and it's considered safe for helping prevent colds and other breathing infections.

Taking a small daily dose of vitamin D might help lower your chances of getting colds or other breathing infections, but taking more doesn't seem to help extra, and scientists aren't totally sure...

Taking vitamin D every day might help lower your chances of getting colds or other breathing infections, but it doesn't always work the same way for everyone and scientists aren't totally sure yet.

Taking vitamin D might help kids between 1 and 15 years old get fewer colds and lung infections, but scientists aren't totally sure yet.

Taking vitamin D supplements doesn't really help prevent common colds or similar infections for most people, based on a big review of studies.

When people use saltwater rinses for stuffy noses from colds, they often feel a little bit of discomfort. This shows that even though it's mostly safe, it can still have some minor bad effects.

About 4 out of 10 babies didn't handle saline nose drops well when they had colds, showing that many little kids don't like this treatment.

Using saltwater nose rinses might help working adults get back to work faster when they have colds or sinus infections, which could save money.

Using saltwater nose rinses might help you get over a cold about a third of a day faster, but the study wasn't sure if this small difference was real luck or just chance.

Using saltwater nose rinses for colds and sinus infections doesn't seem to help adults much, according to studies comparing it to other treatments.

Scientists found that two chemicals, pyrithione and hinokitiol, don't stop viruses from getting into cells at the start of an infection, but they do work later on to slow down how the virus copies...

Two chemicals, pyrithione and hinokitiol, can fight certain viruses by needing zinc helpers to work, and they do this by raising zinc levels inside cells—a new way to stop these viruses.

These two chemicals help zinc quickly get inside cells and go to specific spots like mitochondria. This temporary zinc boost is what makes them fight certain viruses.

Two chemicals stop a virus from cutting an important protein in cells, which might help prevent the virus from making copies of itself.

Two special chemicals can stop certain viruses from growing in lab tests by messing up how the viruses build their parts, which might help fight these types of viruses.

Taking very high doses of vitamin C right when you start feeling a cold won't make the cold shorter or less severe for healthy adults compared to taking normal amounts.

A chemical called PDTC messes with how two viruses build their parts, but in different ways: for one virus, it stops a key cutting step inside the virus, and for the other, it blocks a different...

A chemical called PDTC helps move zinc into cells, and this zinc helps fight off certain viruses.

A chemical called PDTC stops two types of viruses from copying themselves by messing up their genetic material, which was shown in lab experiments.