2 verifications about Common Cold Common Cold ×
“Antibiotics are effective in treating viral infections such as the common cold.”
Antibiotics neither treat viral infections nor provide meaningful benefit for the common cold. Major public-health guidance and systematic reviews consistently support this conclusion. Antibiotics may be appropriate for a diagnosed bacterial infection or complication, but that does not make them effective against the underlying virus.
“Taking Vitamin C prevents the common cold.”
The claim that taking Vitamin C prevents the common cold is not supported by the evidence. Multiple high-quality systematic reviews — including Cochrane's analysis of over 11,000 participants — consistently find no reduction in cold incidence for the general population. A modest preventive effect has been observed only in narrow subgroups under extreme physical stress (e.g., marathon runners). Vitamin C may slightly reduce cold duration and severity, but that is treatment, not prevention. The blanket claim is false.