Can Vitamin C cure a cold?
This theory came out in the 1970’s when Dr Linus Pauling published his book Vitamin C and the common cold. The twice Nobel Prize winner claimed that taking 3 grams of vitamin C a day would provide considerable protection against the common cold. He also recommended that if a cold appeared, taking 1 to 2 grams of vitamin C every hour until symptoms disappeared would stop the cold. Since then many studies have proved vitamin C’s anti-viral action. For children, however, I would never recommend doses of vitamin C higher than 1,000mg a day, except in certain special circumstances. At the start of a cold, you can mix 500mg-1,000mg (depending on age) of vitamin C powder into a pint of diluted apple juice and offer it at regular intervals through the day to help reduce the severity of the symptoms. Vitamin C must not be taken if your child has kidney disease or is vomiting. (Incidentally Linus Pauling took 10grams of vitamin C a day and lived to the age of 93!
This theory came out in the 1970’s when Dr Linus Pauling published his book Vitamin C and the common cold. The twice Nobel Prize winner claimed that taking 3 grams of vitamin C a day would provide considerable protection against the common cold. He also recommended that if a cold appeared, taking 1 to 2 grams of vitamin C every hour until symptoms disappeared would stop the cold. Since then many studies have proved vitamin C’s anti-viral action. For children, however, I would never recommend doses of vitamin C higher than 1,000mg a day, except in certain special circumstances. At the start of a cold, you can mix 500mg-1,000mg (depending on age) of vitamin C powder into a pint of diluted apple juice and offer it at regular intervals through the day to help reduce the severity of the symptoms. Vitamin C must not be taken if your child has kidney disease or is vomiting.
