Recently a well executed syst. literature review has been published
in Huisarts & Wetenschap, the Dutch Journal of the dutch college of
general practitioners.
Unfortunately it is in Dutch (though often it includes a abstract in
english). As we haven't been succesful to get the journal
accepted for indexing in Medline - we tried this four times over
a period of more than 10 years - it isn't useful for us to publish
original articles in english or with extensive english summaries.
If you wish I could it look up for you. Possibly you find Dutch
rather easy to read, and rather comparable to German. At least you
could extract the references.
No luck with some Cochrane Library?
A quick search with ascorbic acid / common cold / 1985-1999 / review
(search strategy included) resulted in two possibly useful articles:
see attached file
I hope this is helpful.
Nico v Duijn
Dr. N.P. van Duijn, gen. pract. - epidemiologist
Departm. General Practice
Division Public Health
Academic Medical Centre
University of Amsterdam
the Netherlands
Date: Tue, 30
Mar 1999 22:56:59 +0100
> Subject: ascorbic acid and influenza
> From: "Heimo Wallenko" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "Evidence-based Health" <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-to: "Heimo Wallenko" <[log in to unmask]>
> Dear members of list,
>
> among general practitioners it is very common to use high doses of ascorbic
> acid (up to 5 gram daily) in patients with influenza vera or measles. I
> could not find any evidence for this treatment, neither for high doses nor
> low.
> Is there any, or - as I think - is this treatment common because patients
> wish to be treated this way?
>
> Hope you don't mind about this
>
> Heimo
>
> Dr. Heimo Wallenko
> General Practitioner
> Seenstrasse 53, A-9081 Reifnitz
> Tel. 0043 4273 3565
> email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
>
Date: 02-Apr-1999
Name: ascorbic
Database: Medline (Alles) <1966 to March 1999>
Set Search Results
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
001 exp *ascorbic acid/tu 1097
002 limit 1 to review articles 59
003 limit 2 to yr=1985-1999 42
004 exp *common cold/ 946
005 3 and 4 2
006 from 5 keep 1-2 2
007 6 2
<1>
Unique Identifier
97129600
Authors
Hemila H.
Institution
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Title
Vitamin C supplementation and common cold symptoms: problems with
inaccurate reviews. [Review] [69 refs]
Source
Nutrition. 12(11-12):804-9, 1996 Nov-Dec.
Abbreviated Source
Nutrition. 12(11-12):804-9, 1996 Nov-Dec.
MeSH Subject Headings
Adult
Ascorbic Acid/ad [Administration & Dosage]
*Ascorbic Acid/tu [Therapeutic Use]
Child
*Common Cold/dt [Drug Therapy]
Common Cold/pc [Prevention & Control]
Controlled Clinical Trials
Human
Nutrition Policy
Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Abstract
In 1971, Linus Pauling carried out a meta-analysis of four
placebo-controlled trials and concluded that it was highly unlikely that
the decrease in the "integrated morbidity of the common cold" in vitamin C
groups was caused by chance alone (P < 0.00003). Studies carried out since
then have consistently found that vitamin C (> or = 1 g/d) alleviates
common cold symptoms, indicating that the vitamin does indeed have
physiologic effects on colds. However, widespread conviction that the
vitamin has no proven effects on the common cold still remains. Three of
the most influential reviews drawing this conclusion are considered in the
present article. Two of them are cited in the current edition of the RDA
nutritional recommendations as evidence that vitamin C is ineffective
against colds. In this article, these three reviews are shown to contain
serious inaccuracies and shortcomings, making them unreliable sources on
the topic. The second purpose is to suggest possible conceptual reasons
for the persistent resistance to the notion that vitamin C might have
effects on colds. Although placebo-controlled trials have shown that
vitamin C does alleviate common cold symptoms, important questions still
remain. [References: 69]
Publication Type
Journal Article. Review. Review, Tutorial.
<2>
Unique Identifier
92190136
Authors
Hemila H.
Institution
Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Title
Vitamin C and the common cold. [Review] [124 refs]
Source
British Journal of Nutrition. 67(1):3-16, 1992 Jan.
Abbreviated Source
Br J Nutr. 67(1):3-16, 1992 Jan.
Local Messages
Aanwezig in Centrale Medische Bibliotheek, AMC
MeSH Subject Headings
Antioxidants/pk [Pharmacokinetics]
Ascorbic Acid/pk [Pharmacokinetics]
*Ascorbic Acid/tu [Therapeutic Use]
Chemotaxis, Leukocyte/de [Drug Effects]
Clinical Trials
*Common Cold/pc [Prevention & Control]
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Histamine Antagonists/pd [Pharmacology]
Human
Neutrophils/ph [Physiology]
Phagocytosis/de [Drug Effects]
Time Factors
Abstract
The effect of vitamin C on the common cold has been the subject of several
studies. These studies do not support a considerable decrease in the
incidence of the common cold with supplemental vitamin C. However, vitamin
C has consistently decreased the duration of cold episodes and the
severity of symptoms. The benefits that have been observed in different
studies show a large variation and, therefore, the clinical significance
may not be clearly inferred from them. The biochemical explanation for the
benefits may be based on the antioxidant property of vitamin C. In an
infection, phagocytic leucocytes become activated and they produce
oxidizing compounds which are released from the cell. By reacting with
these oxidants, vitamin C may decrease the inflammatory effects caused by
them. Scurvy, which is caused by a deficiency in vitamin C, is mostly
attributed to the decreased synthesis of collagen. However, vitamin C also
participates in several other reactions, such as the destruction of
oxidizing substances. The common cold studies indicate that the amounts of
vitamin C which safely protect from scurvy may still be too low to provide
an efficient rate for other reactions, possibly antioxidant in nature, in
infected people. [References: 124]
Publication Type
Journal Article. Review. Review, Academic.
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