{"id":19284,"date":"2017-12-11T22:51:08","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T22:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.yogaesoteric.net\/articles-4260-en\/high-dose-vitamin-c-can-reduce-a-colds-duration-by-20-percent\/"},"modified":"2017-12-11T22:51:08","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T22:51:08","slug":"high-dose-vitamin-c-can-reduce-a-colds-duration-by-20-percent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/high-dose-vitamin-c-can-reduce-a-colds-duration-by-20-percent\/","title":{"rendered":"High Dose Vitamin C Can Reduce A Cold\u2019s Duration By 20 Percent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/all_uploads\/uploads-dec17\/decembrie\/11.12.2017\/13979\/13979.jpg\" width=\"550\" height=\"306\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>  People with the high levels of vitamin C from their diets are known to have reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and early death.&#160;<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  But did you know the wonder vitamin can effectively help you with the common cold?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  Earlier studies in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that taking vitamin C natural supplements in the short-term reduced both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) all without any side effects making it an excellent alternative to dangerous medications.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  A huge amount of data has found significant effects for vitamin C in the prevention and alleviation of symptoms of infections, including the common cold. Writing in Nutrients, Dr Harri Hemila from the University of Helsinki, Finland, reviews the evidence for vitamin C in a range of infections &#8211; adding that for now, the potential for vitamin C &#8220;is not known&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  Citing data from previous clinical trials, Hemila notes that the majority of controlled trials have used a &#8220;modest dosage&#8221; of only 1 gram per day of vitamin C, but that trials looking at a wider range of doses indicate that the relationship between vitamin C dosage and its effects on the duration of the common cold symptoms may extend to 6-8 grams per day.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  &#8220;Two controlled trials found a statistically significant dose-response, for the duration of common cold symptoms, with up to 6-8 g\/day of vitamin C&#8221;, writes Hemila. &#8220;Thus, the negative findings of some therapeutic common cold studies might be explained by the low doses. Vitamin C is safe and costs only pennies per gram, and therefore even modest effects may be worth exploiting.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  While the Finnish researcher suggests higher doses of vitamin C are safe and could provide benefits, data from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) regarding the tolerable upper intake levels for vitamin C potentially counters such claims.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  &#8220;Despite the extensive use of vitamin C supplements (up to 10 g\/day) for the prevention of colds and other conditions, the tolerability of such intakes has not been subject to systematic assessment&#8221;, reads the EFSA document, adding that &#8220;there are few data to support the widely held view that high intakes of vitamin C are safe&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>    <strong>Dose-Response<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  Hemila added that although previous trial data suggests doses of 6 to 8 grams per day can reduce the duration of a cold by almost 20%, the fact that both trials showed a strong dose-response relationship up to the highest tested dose means an &#8220;optimal dose&#8221; for maximal effect of vitamin C on the common cold is currently unknown.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  The study notes that definitive conclusions cannot be made from comparisons of existing studies because of numerous confounding differences between the trials &#8211; meaning that although trials of doses higher than 1 g\/d have generally shown a better response than those of exactly 1 g\/d, the most valid examination of dose-response remains within a single trial.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  The Finnish research analyzed the findings of two randomized trials &#8211; each of which investigated the effects of two vitamin C doses on the duration of the common cold.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  The first trial administered 3 g\/day vitamin C to two study groups, 6 g\/day to a third group, and the fourth group was administered a placebo. Compared with the placebo group the 6 g\/day dose shortened colds by 17%, twice as much as the 3 g\/day doses did.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  A second trial administered 4 g\/day and 8 g\/day vitamin C, and placebo to different groups, but only on the first day of the cold. In this trial, compared with the placebo group, the 8 g\/day dose shortened colds by 19%, twice as much as the 4 g\/day dose did, noted Hemila.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  For both trials, Hemila said that the dose-response relationship was quite linear up to the maximum doses given &#8211; meaning that it is possible that even higher doses may lead to still greater reductions in cold duration.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  He added that while some have suggested that doses up to 15 g\/d have been suggested (but not tested), further therapeutic trials should be carried out to investigate the dose-response relation in the region of over 8 g\/day of vitamin C.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>    <strong>Gastrointestinal Issues and Saturated Absorption<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  In its document on tolerable upper intake levels (p295 for vitamin C) EFSA notes that high doses of vitamin C have been linked to gastrointestinal effects including stomach pains, flatulence and diarrhea.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  &#8220;Gastrointestinal effects are the most common adverse clinical events associated with acute, high doses of vitamin C (above 1 g daily), but these can be reduced by taking the vitamin after meals&#8221;, it notes &#8211; adding that available data suggest that supplemental doses of up to 1 g, in addition to normal dietary intakes, are not associated with adverse gastrointestinal effects, but that acute gastrointestinal effects may occur at higher intakes (3-4 g\/day).<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  Furthermore, the EFSA report notes that the absorption of vitamin C also becomes saturated at high doses, &#8220;and therefore intakes above 1 g\/day would be associated with negligible increased uptake and tissue levels, but an increased risk of adverse gastrointestinal effects&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>  Despite such suggestions, Hemila states that previous trial data has shown a significant benefit for very high doses of vitamin C for reducing the duration of colds and other infections &#8211; and that only by performing new randomized trials that investigate doses up to 8 or 10 grams per day can efficacy and safety be tested.&#160;<\/p>\n<p>    <strong><br \/>\n      <br \/>\n    <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>    <strong>yogaesoteric<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>    <strong>December 11, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>  &#160;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People with the high levels of vitamin C from their diets are known to have reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and early death.&#160; But did you know the wonder vitamin can effectively help you with the common cold? Earlier studies in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that taking vitamin C natural supplements in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1044],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-4260-en-health-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}