Vitamin C Against Infections? For Men Only!
Researchers ( Constantini. 2010 ) from the University medical center in Jerusalem found that contrary to popular believe, vitamin C will not help ward off the common cold in swimmers. Interestingly, they did observe a positive effect on severity and duration of infection in males, only: The duration of respiratory infections was 22% shorter in vitamin C group, but the difference was not statistically significant. However, we found a significant interaction between vitamin C effect and sex, so that vitamin C shortened the duration of infections in male swimmers by 47% (95% CI: -80% to -14%), but had no effect on female swimmers (difference in duration: +17%; 95% CI: -38% to +71%). The effect of vitamin C on the severity of URIs was also different between male and female swimmers, so that vitamin C was beneficial for males, but not for females. Hitherto, the scientists have no explanation for the observed gender bias. It could however have contributed to the equivocal resul...