Boots Effervescent Vitamin C > Reviews (5)

This morning I had to scrape ice off the car. That to me signals only one thing – it’s cold season; and I don’t just mean the temperature!

The benefits of vitamin C are fairly well know and it’s ability to help ward off the common cold is possibly one of the best known. This year, as with previous years, I have been offered a free ‘flu jab from work but again I turned the offer down. I’m fairly young, fit and healthy (ish) and so with any luck I’ll avoid the worst of the season and save the vaccines for later.

So, how best to protect myself from the coughs and sneezes that are positively hurled in my direction everyday on public transport and the germs that spread like wildfire through our air-conditioning systems?

Next thing I know, a Boots magazine has landed on my doormat offering a free tube of Boot’s Orange Flavour Effervescent Vitamin C tablets. Perfect. Off I traipsed to the nearest store to sample their delights.The free product was easily identifiable on the shelves. Rows and rows of orange tubes stood waiting for selection. The product was on BOGOF but as I was selecting a free product I took but a single tube and made to pay. I dithered momentarily by the chewing gum (what is it with free products that makes me feel like I HAVE to buy something?) but then thought better of it. As I handed over the tube the ever-helpful assistant cried “these are buy one get one free, take another!”. She didn’t seem to care that I was not paying for them and so I found myself with not one but two tubes of fizzy orange flavour tablets.

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  PLINK PLINK FIZZ
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As instructed on the tube I dropped a single, thick 10p sized tablet in a glass of chilled water. The instructions didn’t tell me how much water to use so I guessed about ¾ of a standard high-ball glass. The tablet dropped to the bottom of the glass as the water started turning a pale orange. Then FIZZZZZZZZZZZZZ away it went! With a sound like opening a coke bottle the tablet buzzed around the glass dissolving fairly rapidly. I guess that it took about 30 seconds to dissolve completely to leave a sparkling bright orange liquid.

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  TASTE
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I really didn’t hold out much hope. Experience has taught me that medicine (Calpol aside) rarely tastes nice and these to me were medicine. I also detest artificial flavours and sweeteners and let’s face it, its not an orange in the glass and although it does say that these are free from artificial flavours yet whatever they use is listed simply as “flavourings” in the ingredients list. And then there was the colour, far too bright to be anything other than fake!Gulp!

As I lifted the glass to take a sip I could still feel the liquid effervescing slightly. The aroma was definitely of oranges although in combination with the colour that I could see it didn’t smell overly natural.

Mmmm… this is actually quite nice. Cool and refreshing. The orange flavour is slightly sweet and really not too bad. It reminded me of orange squash that I used to have as a child.

Again to my surprise the drink was smooth and did not have a powdery taste that one would normally associate with powdered drinks (such as those you may get from a vending machine).There was also, surprisingly, very little aftertaste. I say surprisingly as the tablets contain sorbitol and saccharine and these can often leave a dry taste.

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  NIGGLES?
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None really.I did find on occasions where I was interrupted whilst drinking that if left to stand a slightly chalky sediment would settle at the bottom of the glass. This was fairly easily mixed up again with a quick swirl of the glass.I found that the taste was more refreshing with chilled water than with ordinary tap water but again both were acceptable.

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  DO THEY WORK?
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Hard to say really. Most of the benefits of taking additional vitamin C are prevention rather than cure. I haven’t had a cold and there have been a lot going round so tentatively I could say they do work (Hubby had a cold that I didn’t get and he wasn’t taking them).They don’t appear to do any harm!

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  SUITABILITY
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These seem to me to be an ideal way to take in vitamin C in a pleasant way. There’s no issue with taking a tablet and so those most I need, the elderly and children, could easily cope with these.

They are sugar free and contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and so there should be few who are unable to take them. They also come in lemon flavour although these have not yet been spotted on the shelves!

Each tablet contains an amazing 1666% (no that’s not a typo!) of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C. Although the body cannot store vitamin C and flushes any excess out of your system it is not wise to overdose on these. It won’t help you and can in extreme cases cause side effects (aching back or side, diarrhoea). Add to this the laxative effects of the sorbitol and you don’t want to be overdoing it!

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  CAREBEAR’S BOTTOM LINE
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At £3.20 for 20 tablets (i.e. 20 day’s supply for one person) these are not the cheapest on the market although they are often on special offer (as at 28 Nov 2003 on 3 for 2) but to my mind represent fair value.The taste is better than expected and I haven’t yet had a cold so maybe they are having the desired effect!

Recommended.