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by Amber

Vitamin C: Cold Remedy or Cure?

There’s not enough Vitamin C in a jug of orange juice to knock out a cold, and worse still, it’s loaded with sugar. Don’t assume that its okay because it’s natural sugar. Ounce per ounce, orange juice contains as much sugar as Coke. Yes, there are other fruits and vegetables with higher amounts, but in this situation, you need way more than you can eat. What you need is a high dose of Vitamin C.

There will be many who insist that you can’t cure a cold this way, but it works. It is most effective when you first feel the symptoms coming on. Once you reach adolescence, everyone realizes they might be coming down with something. It might start with a sore throat, coughing, sneezing, or a runny or stuffy nose – but it never just hits you. A cold is a virus that builds itself into an illness as it multiplies in your body. Antibiotics won’t cure it. A cold must run its course unless you head it off at the pass.

A Natural Cold Remedy

If you do a search online for ‘natural cold remedies’ you find over a dozen recommended things to try, but not one of them will be as effective as Vitamin C. Not that herbal and ginger teas won’t be soothing and give you some relief, but it’s not going to shorten the time it takes to fight off your cold by much. Health.com has a run down on several of them, like echinacea, goldenseal, and zinc, but the only one they suggest is truly helpful is Vitamin C. The author goes on to say that this is probably the reason that Airborne is effective at all. And on original package for that over-the-counter cold treatment, it said that it only worked within the first few hours of infection. In fact, Airborne is why I started taking Vitamin C for colds. When it first came out, I couldn’t afford it, but I knew people who raved about it. That “with a blast of Vitamin C” statement on the box led me to do some research on curing a cold with the vitamin itself. What I learned is that it will help you conquer a lot more than that!

So, if you find yourself in a place where there are people coughing and sneezing, a blast of Vitamin C will protect you from their cold germs. Of course, many times you won’t even know where you picked it up at, though you can definitely feel it coming on. Don’t delay, get armed with some Vitamin C tablets, and get them in your system. Fast. Every hour you delay will only make it harder to beat… quickly. Note that it will take a while for the pill form to dissolve in your stomach and boost your immune system. There is also a crystal form available that melts instantly in any liquid that will work much faster. Which is why Airborne and Emergen-C are dissolved before you take them. The crystal form is also much less expensive, especially when purchased in larger containers. And in case you’re wondering, you can get organic Vitamin C that is non-GMO.

Being stuck at work without any on hand is the worst. By the time you can get out of there and get to the store, those nasty little germs will have built up a regular army. Don’t just assume that Vitamin C can’t help you because even if you don’t read this until you’ve been sick for a day or two, it will still help your body fight the virus faster, and bring some relief from your symptoms. You might want to store a mega dose in your desk or carry them in your car or purse as an emergency supply.

How Much Do You Need?

Some say that taking 1,000 mg every 8 hours is the best way to battle a cold. But this is not a “mega dose.” Even 2,000 mg every 8 hours isn’t a big blast of Vitamin C, but it’s certainly a huge improvement over what you get from OJ, green peppers, or spinach.

“If you want to stop a cold, you need at least 2,000 mg an hour until your symptoms are gone. — Orthomolecular.org

Of course, if you’ve missed that ‘within 3-4 hours’ window of feeling the first signs, you’ll have to take it longer than otherwise. I’ll usually double that for the first dose, and then step it back to what the orthomolecular specialists say. If you’re already under the throws of the cold germs, it will probably cut at least 2 days off the length of your illness. But you’ll feel better while you’re recovering, and next time you’ll remember that you need Vitamin C stat to stop it before it really sets in.

Is This Safe?

Unlike prescription drugs, there has never been a case of someone overdosing on, or dying from Vitamin C. You can take it in high doses, and for extended periods of time. In fact, everyone needs tons more Vitamin C than the daily value charts say to. According to a number of medical doctors, that’s only enough to keep you safe from getting scurvy. Higher levels consumed in a day give you more immunity to many things and provide powerful anti-aging benefits too. If you take 1000 mg a day regularly, you might find that cold and flu germs don’t bother you at all – you’ll be immune them.

Did you know that Vitamin C is one thing that humans are naturally deficient in? We are one of the few mammals on this planet whose bodies don’t produce it’s own Vitamin C. Only guinea pigs, monkeys and apes, and fruit bats share this defective trait with us. It’s known as an inborn metabolic error, and may be a big reason for our susceptibility to disease.

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Author

The garden played a starring role from spring through fall in the house Amber was raised in. She has decades of experience growing plants from seeds and cuttings in the plot and pots.