Quote Originally Posted by desert View Post
Being cold weakens the immune system, so getting exposed to a disease while cold can make it more likely for symptoms to arise.
No, you are mistaken. That is what I used to think long time ago, but it is not true. There is absolutely NO link whatsoever between cold temperatures and sickness. If anything, being exposed to cold actually strengthens you, as studies show. How the heck do you think soldiers in WWII and I went wet for days in trenches in freezing temperatures? Especially on the Eastern Front during autumn and spring. it was not resistance, believe me. The soldiers were common conscripts.

Even my biology teacher knows this, and she has a doctorate. It is common knowledge for anyone fairly educated she says, which is quite startling considering the incidence of this misconception. And heck, she is the most intelligent person I have met in my life. She is also my academic team (QuizBowl) coach, and it seems as if there is nothing that she does not know. Her previous academic teams had won at the US nationals twice and placed second thrice (!!). Not bad for such a relatively small town as Pensacola, FL (54,000 people).

Quote Originally Posted by desert View Post
Vitamin supplements are useful, it's just that they don't come in all the hundreds of different forms that one finds in nature.
It is not so much about the forms as it is the compounds the vitamins are found alongside in nature. Just as Vitamin D facilitates the absorption of Calcium, same happens with other vitamins and more complex organic compounds that act akin in a manner similar to enzymes (although the way they facilitate the absorption of vitamins could not be more different from enzymes)