During some seasons of the year , and especially winter, there is a considerable increment in the cases of cold and flu; many hospitals get filled with tons of people suffering from these illnesses and asking for some prescriptions to get any better. Therefore, the so-called "home remedies" become the solution and the consumption of Vitamins C and D also increases its doses, but what is the real effect of this supplements in our bodies?
In New Zealand, a group of scientists conducted a research about this issue. During eighteen months, they worked with two teams of 165 people each one where one of the groups took the vitamin supplements and the other group just took placebos daily. The results were shocking: 161 of the people who took the supplements caught colds as well as the ones who just took the placebo.
In 1970 a chemist called Linus Pauling stated that three grams of vitamin C daily would prevent colds. The study also revealed that vitamin C did not only prevent colds, but also treated cancer. Pauling won the Nobel Prize that year for his discovery. But what would Pauling say about this new finding? Do vitamins C and D help us to prevent colds and cancer?
There are a lot of people who do think that Vitamin C and D prevent us from catching colds and getting cancer, but this idea is not totally true. A couple of years after Pauling won the Nobel Prize, his study was proven to be false because these vitamins do not stop people from getting the previously mentioned illnesses.
The most successful theory sustains that there are no differences between those who take vitamin C and those do not; the only difference that they make in people's organisms is help the respiratory system and to make colds or flu to last half a day less than those who do not consume it.
This is funny because I was just watching Dr.House and they were talking about yet another desease that was supposed to be cured by vitamin C. Polio, if you need to know.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading and found out that there a lot of other deseases and viruses that, through history, have been claimed to be cured with vitamin C.
I will share a link here for you to check : http://www.doctoryourself.com/vitaminc.html
I find amazing that researchers have had so different results when treating people. Some say it works, some say it doesn't and some even say that it can make you more suceptible to contract the mentioned illnesses. Now I think I'm just confused.
So I can just say that this is a very interesting topic and I hope that some day they can actually prove that it helps in something. It would be great if that was the case :)
Yes! It is really funny to see how the placebo effect works in our minds. In fact, now I am able to see that it was not the glass of orange juice that I take each morning the responsible for not having got a flu this winter but the power of my mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks Miguel for let me know that the C vitamin did not have the effects I thought.