Vitamin C to ward off colds - don't bother!

A survey by Australian and Finnish scientists of 30 different scientific studies from around the world over the last twenty years, has reached the conclusion that taking daily doses of vitamin C to ward off colds is a waste of time.

Of the 11,000 plus people surveyed, those who took 200mg of vitamin C daily had almost as many colds as those who took no supplements and the vitamin also had no substantial effect on the length and severity of a person's cold.

The cold-combating powers of vitamin C were first extolled in the 1930s when people were encouraged to take 1,000mg of the vitamin daily to ward off colds.

The current recommended daily allowance of vitamin C is just 60mg; a large glass of orange juice contains nearly 100mg.

However, the latest survey has found that the only people who might benefit from taking the vitamin were those exposed to exceptionally high levels of stress, such as marathon runners, skiers and soldiers on sub-arctic exercises - where fewer colds resulted from taking the vitamin.

According to Harri Hemila from Helsinki University, who led the meta-analysis, for most people the cold-preventing effect of taking daily vitamin C supplements was so slight that it was not worth the effort or expense.

However Dr. Hemila says more research is needed to establish whether the vitamin helped to treat colds and pneumonia in children.

In another recently published study it has been found that people who took regular supplements of vitamins A, E and beta-carotene in the hope of living a fitter, longer life were instead at risk of dying younger.

The supplements are heralded as antioxidants which act against free radicals produced in the body that are thought to play a role in ageing.

But the study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that during 47 trials involving more than 180,000 people, those who took the supplements were at greater risk of dying than those who did not.

Dr. Hemila's review appears in the latest issue of the Cochrane Library, an international organisation regarded as the most prestigious medical research evaluating authority.