The common cold has been associated with enormouseconomic and social burden across the globe. Studies conducted in the past have extensively assessed the impact of vitamin C on preventing the common cold in healthy adults. However, the role of other micronutrients is yet to be confirmed. Thus, a systematic review of randomized controlled trials with micronutrients supplementation was performed. The effects of micronutrients administered singly through the oral route on cold incidence and/or management (in terms of cold duration and symptom severity) in healthy adults were evaluated. From 4 electronic databases, 660 identified studies were screened, and data were extracted from 20 studies (zinc: 10; vitamin D: 8; and vitamins A and E: 2). This review reported that micronutrients supplementation, except vitamin C, may not prevent cold incidence or reduce symptom severity among healthy adults. However, it is noteworthy that zinc supplementation may reduce the cold duration by 2.25 days [when provided singly]. Therefore, it can be suggested that zinc supplementation may help in decreasing the overall burden due to the common cold among healthy adults.

Source: Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Jul;103(1):86-99.