@JLeslie: “That guy a long time ago” who did studies
on Vit. C and cold prevention was the two-time Nobel prize winner, Linus Pauling.
Some tidbits (among several pages in Wikipedia )about a twentieth-century scientific giant:
“Linus Carl Pauling ( 1901 – 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator….one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century.. Pauling was among the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.
Vit C research:
Pauling’s work on vitamin C in his later years generated much controversy. He was first introduced to the concept of high-dose vitamin C by biochemist Irwin Stone in 1966. After becoming convinced of its worth, Pauling took 3 grams of vitamin C every day to prevent colds. Excited by his own perceived results, he researched the clinical literature and published Vitamin C and the Common Cold in 1970.
He began a long clinical collaboration in
...1971 on the use of intravenous and oral vitamin C as cancer therapy for terminal patients..Pauling wrote… a popular book, Cancer and Vitamin C, that discussed their observations. Pauling made vitamin C popular with the public and eventually published two studies of a group of one hundred allegedly terminal patients that claimed vitamin C increased survival by as much as four times compared to untreated patients…
..Later clinical trials conducted by the Mayo Clinic (among many others – Gail’s comment} also found that high-dose (10,000 mg) vitamin C was no better than placebo at treating cancer and that there was no benefit to high-dose vitamin C…
@glut: A flu shot will not prevent one from catching a cold (or many colds) and will only inoculate against the particular flu-du jour.