The Synapse Connections of a lifetime

I've been told by several people of the usefullness of taking Vitamin C to prevent colds and also to treat colds.

Apparently, while looking through MMR, there was a Cochrane review on the matter which reviewed the studies done to evaluate this issue. It had been updated and their latest conclusions were that:

“Regular ingestion of vitamin C has no effect on common cold incidence in the ordinary population. It reduced the duration and severity of common cold symptoms slightly, although the magnitude of the effect was so small its clinical usefulness is doubtful.”

However, I guess it's no harm to take Vitamin Cs to reduce the severity of the problem as there really isn't anything wrong with that practice. However, from this review, it is implicated that regular pill popping of vitamin C has not been shown to have any real beneficial effects for prevention of cold.

Reference:
Douglas RM and others. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007,Issue 3.