Vitamin D doesn’t do much for common colds, study says

A new study reveals that vitamin D is not all that useful in fighting the common cold.

Although vitamin D has been linked to numerous health benefits, including a longer lifespan, researchers in New Zealand found that it does little in the battle against a cold.

Even very high doses were found to be ineffective at keeping away the upper respiratory infection, said CNN.

The study looked at 322 adult volunteers and tracked them over time.

Those who took high doses of vitamin D were just as likely as those who took placebos to get colds.

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Indeed, those who took vitamin D had an average of 3.7 colds or flu, compared to 3.8 in the placebo group over a year, reported Time.

"The VIDARIS (the nickname of the study) trial, which assessed upper respiratory tract infections as they actually occur in the real world, demonstrated that vitamin D supplementation does not reduce the incidence of respiratory tract infections in adults," wrote study author Jeffrey Linder of Harvard Medical School, reported the Los Angeles Times.

CNN reported that the findings follow the results of two previous studies of vitamin D which show that it is ineffective against colds.

Vitamin D is not typically found in foods but rather is made in the body after exposure to sunlight.

Many people in colder climes are thus deficient.

The study was published  in the Journal of the American Medical Association.