The Truth about Vitamin C

When it comes to relieving sinus symptoms, my philosophy is simple: your relief is paramount.  If it’s works, if it’s safe, use it.  There is no reason to continue suffering just because a remedy is not widely known or universally adopted by the people you know.

But this comes with a caveat.  Untested approaches are often just that: wildcards that are frequently prone to disappointing results in a clinical setting.  The unfortunate truth about nontraditional medicine is that it tends to rely heavily on anecdote and hearsay – powerful arguments for many people, but hardly the stuff of rigorous science.  Any number of biases can sneak into the literature when you stray from the path of established medicine, and it’s not unusual for the well-meaning advocates of promising treatments to underreport just how often their approaches don’t work.

Take vitamin C, for instance.  Some people swear that daily ascorbic acid can help everything from the duration of the common cold to the severity of respiratory infections, while others report no benefit at all.  My interest in the subject is concerned only with its effectiveness: can this simple compound really do everything its advocates claim?  Well, a number of studies have parsed the data carefully, and their conclusion is…well, inconclusive:

The use of vitamin C in the prevention/treatment of the common cold and respiratory infections remains controversial, with ongoing research. For cold prevention , more than 30 clinical trials including over 10,000 participants have examined the effects of taking daily vitamin C. Overall, no significant reduction in the risk of developing colds has been observed.

Although some studies suggest you may be able to slightly decrease the length of your symptoms with vitamin C, more research is clearly necessary and caution is the byword.

Long-term sinus symptoms are often an indication that you may have a serious condition.  The best way to seek lasting relief from those symptoms is to speak with a sinus expert sooner rather than later.  You may be amazed at how quickly your condition can improve following a simple outpatient sinus surgery.

Tags: common cold, ent, sinus infection, sinus surgery, vitamin c