Chapter 35, Problem 17STP

Summary Introduction

To analyze:

The hypothesis behind how taking large doses of vitamin C for a cold is helpful.

Introduction:

Vitamin C(ascorbic acid) is a vitamin present in various dietary supplements and is necessary for the growth, development, and repair mechanism of various body tissues. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that protects against the damage caused by free radicals, toxic chemicals, and various pollutants. Vitamin C never gets stored in the body rather are excreted making the overdose not a concern to health.

Explanation of Solution

Vitamin C is widely sold and a preventive therapeutic agent that when taken in a prescribed concentration(200mg or more daily) reduces the frequency, occurrence, duration, and severity of common cold after the onset of symptoms. The hypothesis can be tested by various factors like the viruses used for infecting random volunteers artificially, the transmission method, and the dose of virus and vitamin C given to the patients respectively. Regular vitamin C supplementation in both children and adults results in a significant reduction of the duration of any respiratory illness and its severity caused by influenza viruses. A fact must be taken into account before considering this as a universal fact as it would not work efficiently in the population engaged in extreme physical activities and exposed to higher cold stress or marathon runners.

Conclusion

From the above-given explanation, we can hypothesize that vitamin C can be used as a preventive measure of cold in several groups of patients with varying degrees of inoculated viruses, symptoms, and severity of the infection. Even when taken in high dose(200mg and more) will be somewhat beneficial to the host as the not-needed concentration will be excluded by the body itself. This hypothesis can be tested by taking into consideration the different types of people with different types of daily activity routine and their immunity with respect to the dose of virus and vitamin C supplement, etcetera.