All kinds of viral illnesses increase the need for vitamin C.  You should saturate your body with vitamin C as soon as you realize you are getting a cold.  Since vitamin C is water soluble, you should take doses through out the day.  Every hour would be preferable, but if not take as many doses a day as possible.  You should take between 6,000 and 12,000 milligrams a day for the first week.

However, high doses of vitamin C can have some side effects such as loose bowels and gas.  If this happens to you, you should cut back the dose by 1,000 milligrams a day until the intestinal upset goes away.  Once you are feeling better, cut back the dose to 3,000 milligrams per day to help keep colds from getting started.

 Unfortunately when your immune system is fighting an infection, it generates toxic by-products that make it difficult to heal quickly.  Many of the by-products are in the form of free radicals (molecules that oxidize and damage your cells.  So double your protection with vitamin E.

Vitamin E works in tandem with vitamin C.  Some doctors recommend 400 to 800 IUs a day for the duration of your cold.  Vitamin E along with vitamin C helps shield your cells from oxidative damage.

Vitamin A could also be important as it strengthens the mucosa.  The mucosa is a lining of cells in the respiratory tract.  It helps trap viruses before they have a chance to make you sick.  Because vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin, it can accumulate in the liver.  Therefore, it is recommended that you take doses of 50,000 to 100,000 IUs a day for no more than 5 days.

Zinc may help stimulate your immunity.  Some studies show that zinc lozengers work and some studies show that they don’t.  So you should decide if you want to try them.  Unfortunately, zinc also can have the negative effect of causing an imbalance in copper levels so you would need to limit the time and amount of zinc as well.  The total dose recommended is 120 to 140 milligrams per day for no more than 5 days.

For a really natural product, try garlic.  It is full of virus killing molecules.  You can get the benefits without the smell by taking deodorized garlic.  The recommendation is to take 15 to 30 tablets/capsules providing 300 to 500 milligrams for 5 to 7 days.  However, I met a woman at the health food store that swears if you are willing to boil some cloves and then drink the liquid, you will feel better within 24 hours.  Of course, she did get a good night’s rest.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 9:44 pm and is filed under Vitamins and Supplements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.