The administration of vitamin C in a large institution and its effect on general health and resistance to infection

Abstract

1. The vitamin C in the dietary of an institution was largely destroyed by the methods of cooking and distribution.2. Some 50 mg. of ascorbic acid per head per day were required to be added to the diet to produce an optimum excretion level.3. Large doses of ascorbic acid were given to a group of adolescents in the institution over a period of several months. A record was kept of the incidences of infectious diseases in this treated group and in the remainder (controls). The following conclusions were reached:(a) The incidences of common cold and tonsillitis were the same in the two groups.(b) The average duration of illness due to the common cold was the same in the two groups.(c) The duration of illness of tonsillitis was longer in the control group than in the test group.(d) Cases of rheumatic fever and pneumonia occurred in the control group but no case of either disease occurred in the test group.

Nutrition Discussion Forum

“…In any case, this particular study yielded no evidence for benefit either from L-ascorbic acid, or from L-ascorbic acid plus Disoascorbic acid. Hemilä himself clearly tended to discount the older 'poorly described' study of Glazebrook & Thomson (1942) which lacked a placebo group, and which in any case failed to demonstrate a significant benefit for the males. Thus the evidence of any benefit for British male subjects rests almost entirely on the studies of Charleston & Clegg (1972) and of Baird et al (1979), neither of which seems a very reliable candidate for inclusion.…”

“…In a long-lasting controversy, positive and negative findings are both newsworthy. For example, while Glazebrook & Thomson (1942), Walker el al. (1967), Carson et al (1975), Elwood et al (1976) and Tyrrell et al (1977) all explicitly drew rather negative conclusions as to their findings on vitamin C and the common cold, the papers were nevertheless written and published.…”

“…I do not discount the study by Glazebrook & Thomson (1942). As a form of sensitivity analysis I tested the effect of excluding their study as it is technically the most deficient among those in Table 2.…”

Vitamin C supplementation and common cold symptoms: Problems with inaccurate reviews

“…Truswell (25), referring to certain common cold studies, stated that, "there was no reduction in duration or severity with ascorbic acid as compared with placebo" (15,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37). Actually, Coulehan et al (35) found an 8% decrease in the "average duration of episodes" and a 12% decrease in "days in bed" among twins administered 0.5-1.0 g/d of the vitamin.…”

Effect of vitamin C on common cold: randomized controlled trial

“…Six, large randomized trials of normally nourished subjects in Western countries, whose supplementation period ranged from 2 to 9 months, revealed no effect of vitamin C on common cold incidence (Anderson et al, 1972;Karlowski et al, 1975;Elwood et al, 1976;Ludvigsson et al, 1977;Pitt and Costrini, 1979;Briggs, 1984). However, studies of specific groups, such as subjects under heavy acute physical stress (Hemila, 1996) or British males with extremely low levels of vitamin C intake (Glazebrook and Thomson, 1942;Charleston and Clegg, 1972;Clegg and Macdonald, 1975;Baird et al, 1979), revealed significant reduction in common cold incidence with vitamin C supplementation. In addition, studies have consistently found reduced duration or severity of the common cold with vitamin C supplementation (Hemila and Douglas, 1999).…”