Cold & Flu Archive

The nutrient appears to have modest prevention power.

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Vitamin C is often touted as a natural cold remedy. The nutrient is featured in supplements promising to boost the immune system. Nobel laureate Dr. Linus Pauling famously claimed that taking large doses of vitamin C helps thwart a cold. Is there something to these claims? "The data show that vitamin C is only marginally beneficial when it comes to the common cold," says Dr. Bruce Bistrian, chief of clinical nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

About vitamin C

Our bodies don't make vitamin C, but we need it for immune function, bone structure, iron absorption, and healthy skin. We get vitamin C from our diet, usually in citrus fruits, strawberries, green vegetables, and tomatoes. The Recommended Dietary Allowance for men is 90 milligrams (mg) per day, and for women, it's 75 mg per day.

Millions of Americans get coughs and colds during the winter, and many head to the drugstore to pick up one of the hundreds of common medicines available without a prescription. But those products often contain multiple active ingredients that are potentially unsafe if combined. Here's how to safely choose the right over-the-counter medication for your symptoms.

Getting a flu shot is important every year, but this winter there is added urgency due to the COVID-19 pandemic: with both diseases circulating, hospitals may face shortages of beds and equipment –– and it’s possible to have both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time.

Even as we are moving toward re-establishing some normal activities, and as much as we might want to, it still feels risky to hug another person. Is there a way to do this safely? Is it worth the risk?

In our inner cities, the COVID-19 pandemic comes on top of another crisis that has plagued our country for years: the opioid epidemic. The combined effects of these two events are immense, and highlight already-existing problems with our society and our health care system.

Readers have many questions about the new coronavirus (COVID-19). We have enlisted one of our experts on infectious disease to answer some of them.

A novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, has grown quickly since late December. This primer on what we do –– and don’t –– know can help if you’re concerned about this rapidly evolving public health issue.