The consensus of many similar studies is that vitamin C stimulates production of interferon; that it enhances the ability of the thymus gland to produce T cells; that it helps detoxify surplus histamine; and that it bolsters bacterial phagocytosis (ability of phagocytes to destroy bacteria). Doses of 2 to 3 grams have produced significant increases in immunocompetence.
As a result, vitamin C has become the best known dietary factor affecting immunity. On coming down with a cold, many people are now taking C instead of aspirin. Which is understandable when you consider that several carefully-conducted medical studies have shown that a mild viral infection, such as a smallpox inoculation, causes a significant depletion in vitamins A and C in the bloodstream.
While the results of studies like those just quoted have confirmed the benefits of vitamins A and C, and of zinc in treating colds, the lack of any large-scale scientifically endorsed proof seems due more to the nature of the scientific method than to any doubt about the nutrient’s effectiveness. Any study is limited to testing only a single variable. Thus only a single vitamin or mineral can be tested at a time. By contrast, vitamins and minerals interact biologically, and work synergistically with each other, to produce results far greater than that of any single nutrient acting alone. Taken together, vitamins A, C, E and the B-complex plus zinc and other key minerals, appear to complement the other to produce overall results far in excess of any single nutrient studies so far recorded.
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