Vitamin C for the common cold should not be rejected on the basis of old and erroneous articles : [Letter]

Mainardi et al reviewed the use and effects of complementary and alternative medicines on respiratory symptoms. They stated that early studies on vitamin C did not demonstrate an effect on the duration or intensity of the common cold, and as a support to this statement, they referred to 2 articles from 1975. ... for a reader it would have been more useful to refer to an up-to-date review that covers also the trials carried out after 1975 and gives references to other recent literature instead of referring to 3-decade-old articles that have been shown to be erroneous 1 decade ago. There is firm evidence that regular vitamin C supplementation shortens the duration of colds that occur during the supplementation period, but the practical significance of this finding is not clear.Non peer reviewe