Vitamin C and the common cold by 18%. Severity was also reduced. However, if vitamin C was started only when the first symptoms of a cold were being felt, there were no benefits for duration or severity. Vitamin C and the common cold The common cold, or simply cold, is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract. The cold is indeed common, and is a significant cause for absences from work and school. Even before the discovery of vitamin C, folklore had it that certain fruits were effective in both preventing and treating the cold. After scientific identification of vitamin C in the early
History of medicine in the Philippines surveyors of herbal medicines at the localities where they were assigned. Common disease during the Spanish period in the Philippines were diarrhea, dysentery, and leprosy. There were also the presence of cholera, inﬂuenza, smallpox, beri-beri, dysentery, bubonic plague, scurvy, rheumatism, asthma, syphilis, tetanus, toothache, and ulcers. Many Filipinos believed in "pasma" (a resulting condition similar to spasm which involves the occurrence of hand tremors, sweaty palms, numbness and pains after the body's exposure to "unhealthy cold" and water), the state of "nausog" ("distress" caused by an unfamiliar person), and "personalistic sorcery". It was in 1830 when the "true pharmacies" were