With cold weather now in full, freezing force, students and residents begin to have health concerns, especially when it comes to the all too common cold.

For some students like Megan Ellsworth, a freshman family and child services major, the remedy to a cold is to take an increased dose of vitamin C.

“My mom always told me to take vitamin C and drink orange juice when I had a cold, but I never really knew why,” Ellsworth said. “It always ended up helping though.”

Judith Lukaszuk, assistant professor of family, consumer and nutrition sciences, said that while vitamin C doesn’t exactly cure a cold, it does help.

“It doesn’t cure the common cold,” Lukaszuk said. “But it seems in some studies, it shows that it shortens the duration of symptoms if you take it when you first are symptomatic with a cold.”

Lukaszuk said on average, a cold usually lasts about five days, but if vitamin C intake is increased, the symptoms can be shortened to about three days.

Lukaszuk said many cold medicines and cough drops on the market today have added vitamin C to their formulas in an attempt to shorten symptoms of a cold, but she is not sure that it helps.

“It’s probably just a gimmick to get people to buy it,” Lukaszuk said. “They think it’s an added benefit, but if you eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, you’re getting adequate vitamin C in your diet.”

Debra Askelson, a health educator at Health Enhancement, suggests eating foods like raw, red bell peppers, broccoli, leafy greens, potatoes, tomatoes, guava, papaya, strawberries and citrus fruits to add vitamin C and other essential vitamins to your diet.

Besides shortening the symptoms of a cold, vitamin C can help your health in many other ways.

Benefits of the vitamin include keeping capillaries healthy to prevent bruising, helping to maintain gums so they don’t bleed, and aiding in forming connective tissue that holds many parts of your body together, Askelson said.

Ellsworth said her parents encourage her to take vitamins, but she doesn’t.

“My parents used to buy vitamin C tablets, but since I moved to NIU, I haven’t been taking any,” Ellsworth said. “But sometimes I’ll think ‘I should be healthy today’ and drink an orange juice.”