Vitamin E: Skip it - an excess has been linked to an increased risk of certain cancers, and you can eat spinach instead. The ones on the zinc had shorter colds and less severe symptoms. In a 2011 review of studies of people who'd recently gotten sick, researchers looked at those who'd started taking zinc and compared them with those who just took a placebo. The mineral seems to interfere with the replication of rhinoviruses, the bugs that cause the common cold.

Unlike Vitamin C, which studies have found likely does nothing to prevent or treat the common cold, zinc may actually be worth it. Zinc: Take it - it's one of the only ingredients linked to shortening a cold. So rather than shelling out for a pill that promises to be a cure-all, snack on a parfait. Sometimes they help, sometimes they don't. So far, the effects of probiotics have been all over the map.

The idea behind them is simple: Support the trillions of bacteria blossoming in our gut which we know play a crucial role in regulating our health.īut putting that idea into actual practice has been a bit more complicated. Probiotics - pricey bacterial supplements that can cost upward of $1 per pill but are found naturally in smaller amounts in yogurt and other fermented foods - have become a big business with a market of roughly US$23.1 billion in 2012. Probiotics: Skip them - the science isn't advanced enough yet for them to have a significant benefit, and you can eat yogurt instead. Plus, people in the study who took the B3 supplements were more likely than those taking a placebo to develop infections, liver problems, and internal bleeding. But recent studies have called for an end to the over-prescription of the nutrient.Ī large 2014 study of more than 25,000 people with heart disease found that putting people on long-acting doses of Vitamin B3 to raise their levels of 'good', or HDL, cholesterol didn't reduce the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, or deaths. Vitamin B3: Skip it and eat salmon, tuna, or beets instead.įor years, Vitamin B3 was promoted to treat everything from Alzheimer's to heart disease. Strawberries are packed with the nutrient. So get your Vitamin C from your food instead.

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