3287: How Much Vitamin C? by Radio New Zealand with Les Mills on Daily Nourishment and Balance

Optimal Health Daily - Fitness and Nutrition

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Fitness, Nutrition, Health & Fitness

4.5 • 677 Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3287: Radio New Zealand breaks down the science behind vitamin C, showing it’s not a miracle cold cure but a vital nutrient with powerful benefits when used wisely. Learn how vitamin C supports everything from genetic regulation to immune defense, why our bodies absorb it like sponges, and how a few kiwifruit or capsicum can do more than most pills, unless you're already under physical or immune stress. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.lesmills.com/articles/vitamin-c/ Quotes to ponder: "Vitamin C is at the hub of almost every biological function that we know." "There are specific vitamin C transporters that line our entire intestine." "The more ill you are, the harder your body is having to fight to maintain you being alive." Episode references: Free Radical Research Centre – University of Otago: https://www.otago.ac.nz/free-radical Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Optimal Health Daily. How Much Vitamin C by Radio New Zealand with lesmills.com. And I'm Dr. Neal.
0:09.5	Hey there, happy Sunday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, where I simply read to you from the best
0:15.0	health and fitness blogs. It's like an audiobook, but with articles instead, and from a bunch of different authors, and always with
0:22.2	permission from the sites. Now, on Fridays, that's when I answer your questions. You can send in your
0:28.3	question by going to oldipodcast.com slash ask, or email your question directly to health at
0:36.6	oldipodcast.com.
0:39.3	All right, and with that, let's hear today's article and continue optimizing your life.
0:47.9	How Much Vitamin C by Radio New Zealand with lesmills.com.
0:53.8	Can vitamin C prevent the common cold?
0:57.5	Not really.
0:58.8	A major meta-analysis by Health Database, the Cochran Library,
1:03.0	considered all studies looking at the impact of taking supplements on the common cold.
1:07.9	The results showed that if you take regular vitamin C supplements, you'll probably
1:12.1	get the same number of colds, but they won't last quite as long. However, a small number of
1:18.4	studies have shown that people exposed to short periods of extreme physical stress, including
1:23.8	marathon runners and skiers who took vitamin C have their risk of getting a cold.
1:30.5	Timing is key.
1:32.3	The Cochrane report showed that taking high doses of vitamin C
1:35.4	after you show cold symptoms will have no consistent effect on the duration or severity
1:41.8	of common cold symptoms.
1:44.3	To complicate the picture, according to Dr. Anita Kar, of the Free Radical Research Center
1:49.6	at the University of Otago in New Zealand, many of the original trials used in this research
	...

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