Cold remedies: Old wives' tales... or legitimate science?

Pedro_P

From orange juice to zinc lozenges, chicken soup to garlic capsules, there are plenty of home remedies for the common cold. But is there any evidence that they work?


▼ There are few experiences as universal as catching a cold. And while there are around 200 viruses that cause it, there seem to be almost as many home remedies to combat it.
But do any of them work?
At the core of any home remedy is the idea that it bolsters our immune system. When a virus enters our bodies, it comes up against two systems of defence: the innate immune system tries to flush invading cells out, while the adaptive system targets specific pathogens that the body already has had contact with and creates memory cells of new ones, so the body can fight them off if they return. This is why we tend to get chicken pox only once, whereas the common cold – which changes its appearance as it passes from one person to the next, confusing our memory cells – is something we can experience dozens of times.
It’s well-known that both lifestyle habits and diet affect the strength of our immune systems.
But because the immune system is only impaired in otherwise healthy people when we have a vitamin or mineral deficiency, supplementing our diets with so-called cold-busting foods will make little difference if we already have a relatively good diet, says Charles Bangham, head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London.
“Only if you’re short of a vital nutrient, such as vitamin, zinc or iron, will supplementing that particular item be very helpful. But if you eat a balanced diet, adding more of these things doesn’t make the immune system any more efficient,” he says.
Supplement solution
Even so, studies looking into cures for the common cold have found that they can make a difference.
The vast majority of these studies concentrate on supplements, rather than food – in fact, no reliable research has been done on whether a popular cure like chicken soup actually makes a difference.
But one supplement that may help is popular home remedy garlic. In one small study, 146 healthy adults were given either  a placebo or a daily garlic  supplementfor 12 weeks over winter. The placebo group contracted 65 colds, resulting in 366 days of sickness – whereas those who had garlic supplements only contracted 24 colds, with 111 days of sickness between them.
One review on vitamin C supplements didn’t find that supplements greatly reduce the risk of getting colds
Another supplement many people reach for when they feel cold symptoms is vitamin C. Some research suggests it too can help – though not as much as you might think. One review analysing 29 studies on vitamin C supplements didn’t find that supplements greatly reduce the  risk of getting colds, or that they alleviate symptoms. But it did find that children saw a 14% reduction in the length of their colds; in adults, the reduction was 8%. Researchers concluded that since the supplements are low-risk, it may be worthwhile trying them to see if they can help.
Orange juice may be less useful: there is no robust evidence that orange juice helps prevent colds, alleviate symptoms or reduce a cold’s length. This is because it doesn’t contain high enough doses of vitamin C to have the same impact as daily supplements, says Harri Hemilä, a public health researcher at the University of Helsinki and author of the vitamin C supplements review. A standard small bottle of fresh orange juicehas around 72mg of vitamin C, according to the US Department of Agriculture – that’s more than the recommended daily minimumof 40mg, but still less than many supplements.
Then there’s zinc. One review examining the effectiveness of daily zinc acetate lozenges on the  common coldfound that they shortened the duration of runny and blocked noses by around a third, plus led to 22% less sneezing and almost half as much coughing.
The study concluded that if started within 24 hours of the first symptoms, 80mg daily zinc acetate lozenges may help treat the common cold.
Patients with a cold who were given zinc lozenges recovered three times faster
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seatlawyer

A glass of lemon water (not synthetic vitamin C supplement) and ginger tea with fresh ginger always helps me in cold

seatlawyer

A glass of lemon water (not synthetic vitamin C supplement) and ginger tea with fresh ginger always helps me in cold