How does extra vitamin C help with a cold?
Real Vitamin C (not ascorbic acid, which is one very small part of the real Vitamin C) has been said to help boost your immune system.Vitamin C is an antioxidant vitamin. Antioxidants help your body to neutralise free radicals. Free radicals are molecules which are missing an electron. They go on a rampage in your body to replace their missing electron, which they steal from another molecule. This can cause a chain reaction of electron theft which can result in damaged DNA which can cause a whole host of diseases and even degenerations such as wrinkles.The theory is that if you have provided your body with antioxidants and neutralised your free radicals, your body can concentrate on more important issues, which may be to fight whatever illness you may have. Just make sure you do bother with isolated Vitamin C supplements. Isolated vitamins do not work, but this is a whole other subject. The link below explains about this is you are interested. Just make sure if you supplement it is with whole food supplements.The Truth about Isolated Vitamins - All Natural SupplementsHope this helps!
Does vitamin C really help with the flu or is it a myth?
Lots of people will tell you that vitamin C is a myth regarding colds and flu. But there is a genuine mechanism involved. And good data. It is harder to see with colds because the effect is dose dependent and non-linear. So the "official" studies have not used doses high enough to produce overt clinical improvements. But in the treatment of polio, hepatitis and influenza, IV doses of C in the 40-150 gram range dramatically alter the clinical course of viral diseases.Since IVs are not something that you can "do at home, kids," the benefits are subtle enough that many people have a hard time discriminating them. But there is now an over-the-counter form a vitamin C that mimics IV administration called liposomal C. The vitamin C is prepared in liposomes, fat-membrane droplets, that carry the C past the blood stream and improve tissue and cellular uptake, which is required for obtaining overt benefits for viral diseases.The case of the infamous rancher in New Zealand whose swine flu coma was reversed by IV ascorbate in a hospital, was subsequently reversed a second time by liposomal C smuggled into the hospital (after the hospital staff discontinued the IV C and the man relapsed into a second coma). It's a fascinating story that 60 Minutes covered in New Zealand. Later, the public uproar caused a law to be passed that makes IV C an official treatment at hospitals. Before the law, hospitals would refuse to do it unless (1) the families insisted strenuously, and (2) the hospital medical staff agreed that the case was terminal and there was "no hope" to risk. This latter requirement was the reason they discontinued the IV C after the rancher woke up, and caused him to drop back into a coma; he was improving for "other reasons" and was no longer terminal to justify the "heroic" (worthless) measure of IV-C treatment.None of the doctors who participated in these life-and-death clinical decisions had any experience with IV C, nor any familiarity with the 60 years of scientific and medical literature on the antiviral applications of high-does of vitamin C.Before liposomal C was developed, people did use "bowel tolerance" doses of vitamin C (12-24 grams per day) for serious viral diseases (and other conditions). As you might suspect, flirting with diarrhea is a less-then-popular protocol.There are other answers to similar questions that you might want to read.
Does vitamin C help with a cold?
vit c is very important as it supports healthy immune function and other important functions and out bodies do not make vit c like some animals do so as humans it has to be in the diet or obtained through a supplement . ======================================... also I can tell you first hand of another vitamin that is a very powerful weapon against colds or flus and other infections in general and medically proven to enhance immune function and modulation and that vitamin would be vitamin d 3 , when i was sick I took a high dose for 3 days (100,000 units daily ) for 3 days and then went down to 5,000 units to maintain healthy levels , on the 2nd or 3 rd day I was no longer sick and have not been sick since , vitamin d 3 creates antimicrobial peptides in the body that literally fight existing infections and also prevent them if you have enough vit d in our system , most people are deficient in vit d , and medical science has proven that vit d cuts the risk for about 20 cancers by about 75% , anyway the medical doctors in the links below will explain it in much more detail so learn and live
How does vitamin C help the immune system?
http://www.stopgettingsick.com/template.cfm-1689 Vitamin C is an important part of your body’s basic building functions and its disease prevention and protection system. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that can help block damage from free radicals. Vitamin C also increases the absorption of iron. Vitamin C is critical to collagen production, a protein that binds cells together and is the building block of connective tissues throughout the body. It’s necessary for growing and repairing tissues all over the body. Vitamin C boosts your immune system and increases white blood cell production as well. It even aids in healing wounds and the repairing and maintaining healthy cartilage, bones and teeth. When your body is healing from infection, injury, disease or surgery, the body needs large amounts of vitamin C. Studies are ongoing on how Vitamin C can better help our bodies heal. Recent research indicates that vitamin C and vitamin E work synergistically having a greater effect together than separately. Studies also show that Vitamin C is a powerful protection against many illnesses and medical conditions, including heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, common cold, osteoarthritis, obesity and weight loss, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and other kinds of dementia. Research shows that while vitamin C will not cure these conditions, it may help prevent them from occurring, or slow progression
Does Vitamin C really help that much to cure colds?
Yes, Vitamin C supports quite an amount of resistance to colds and other bacterial infections. In the process of healing resistance in the body are working hard for helping emit natural remedy. However, it was said that the highest concentration of cold virus in nasal secretions occur during the first 3 days of infections. This is when infected persons are most contagious. Spreading its virus whether through direct contact to the sufferer or through other forms of contaminations where the virus is so present.
Does Vitamin C help to prevent or treat cold?
Both. Having a high amount of vitamin C in your body keeps your immune system strong. If your immune system is strong, you're less likely to get sick. If you already have a cold, getting more vitamin C is always good because it, again, strengthens your immune system, helping you fight off the cold. Vitamin C deficiency is called Scurvy. Pirates and sailors used to get it. It makes your teeth fall out and liquefies your intestines.
Does Vitamin C help "recycle" Vitamin E? If so, what is the process?
Among the many activities Vitamins C and E perform in our bodies, one that they have in common is acting as anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are elements or molecules that counteract oxidation, the process by which a stable molecule can be induced to carry a cell-damaging electrical charge, becoming a "free radical". The chemical reactions by which oxidation occurs or is reversed are collectively called "redox" reactions. Anti-oxidants have been found to work together in networks in chains of these reactions. Research examining the reaction chains repeatedly document interactions between Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid) and Vitamin E (usually as alpha tocopherol) wherein Vitamin C donates an electron to a charged version of Vitamin E, thereby bringing Vitamin E back to a stable, "recycled" state. Vitamin C then undergoes a "recylcing" process of its own to revert to a stable state.You'll find more descriptions of the recycling process here:Biochemistry for Medics - Lecture NotesAntioxidant Synergy - AORThe Antioxidant Network -ReferencesPage on sciencedirect.comThiol homeostasis and supplements in physical exerciseLipid Peroxidation, α-Tocopherol, and AscorbateAn electron paramagnetic resonance studyPartners in defense, vitamin E and vitamin C.
How does vitamin c prevent flu?
It won't completly prevent the flu but it will strengthen your immune system.
Does vitamin C help abort pregnancies?
I've only heard of it as a way of bringing on a period early, or bringing on a period that is late. That said, "Bringing on a late period" is often a euphemism for inducing an early miscarriage. From my reading around the internet (caveat lector) Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) that is not buffered by other ingredients will block progesterone, and that brings on the period. I've also heard it explained as a consequence of Vitamin C causing your body to absorb or retain iron, which brings on the period. That seems more unlikely than the progesterone thing, but I'm no biologistics* wizard.**In terms of N=1, it is effective. I've done it about three times, to bring on periods a week early, when I'm due to travel so that I don't have to deal with the logistics of bleeding when in the midst of a busy schedule in an unfamiliar place. I think that as with any female anatomical thing, your results will vary, but it has certainly worked for me. It takes about two days of overdosing (2-3x RDA) significantly on cheap one-to-two ingredient Vitamin C. It's fairly unpleasant and it feels like it's not a healthy thing to do to your system, but from my experience it can work consistently if your system responds in the way mine does. Whether it's a placebo thing or not, I can't tell. It would be interesting to contemplate whether a brain can send persuasive signals to the womb to hit the flush button early. Stranger things have happened, I'm sure.*** I've yet to try a placebo trial, because I don't really care enough to argue with something that is effective.* Not a word but should be.** There's not that much science out there (that I can find) - doing research on this tends to end me up in secret women's business forums, which is a different discussion about what's seen as worthy research gender politics etc. Possibly I'm just bad at science research.*** cough, stigmata cough.