The immune-cell benefit was measured in people already short
In 48 adults picked for low blood levels, 13 weeks of 500 or 1000 mg raised glutathione inside infection-fighting white cells by 18%. Every one had a deficit to close.
What the study found
Vitamin C's cell-level gains were measured in people who started low
Vitamin C piles up inside the white cells that fight infection, and running short weakens defence. In 48 adults picked for low blood levels, 13 weeks of 500 or 1000 milligrams raised glutathione, the cell's own antioxidant, inside those cells by 18%. Every one had a deficit to close.
The caveat · Placebo always came second
Everyone in the supplement trial took the vitamin first and the placebo second, so an order effect cannot be separated from the treatment. Glutathione inside a lymphocyte is a laboratory reading, not an illness avoided. One author of the mechanism review is employed by a vitamin C manufacturer.
What we don't know
Everyone in the supplement trial took the vitamin first and the placebo second, so an order effect cannot be separated from the treatment. Glutathione inside a lymphocyte is a laboratory reading, not an illness avoided. One author of the mechanism review is employed by a vitamin C manufacturer.