I am reminded of the time when I went in search of an OTC yeast infection remedy. This was not too long after the effective remedies became legal to sell OTC, instead of being prescription only. What did I find? A big selection of various homeopathic preparations, every one of them proudly claiming to relieve yeast symptoms…and all of them listing c. albicans as the active ingredient. When I bitched about this, I was told that the allopathic cures were too expensive, and most women would shop by price. I quit going to that pharmacy.
Tons of info here including cites to studies.
When I last read about zinc studies, there was concern that one could not perform proper blind trials because of the distinct zinc taste. My recollection was that positive efficacy went away when the zinc was delivered via a taste-free method. How are these newer zinc studies addressing the taste issue, vis-à-vis performing blind trials and controlling for placebo effects?
http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab001364.html
It’s a pretty good review of the data, which despite inability to properly double blind the studies, does indicate zinc does make a difference.
Cochrane is evidence-based, and generally well regarded in the medical/scientific community.
Qadgop, I seem to recall that the homeopathic Zicam, unlike most homeopathic preparations, was only a dilute 10% solution, and could actually do some damage. Such a high concentration (high in the true medical sense, not homeopathic sense) is not really homeopathic and perhaps shouldn’t be lumped with them.
I’m not saying it works or doesn’t, but there is a big difference chemically between a 30C solution and a 1X. One has no active ingredients whatsoever, the other most surely does.
It muddies the waters, so to speak.
Does extra sleep help? Make it worse? How about drinking extra fluids?
I’ll post some anecdotal evidence concerning me. Years ago I tried sublingual zinc because there was some evidence it would shorten the duration of the cold then. (It’s back in the news again as being efficacious.) It did not help me at all, as far as the colds were concerned, and I hated the after-taste of the zinc. I also have tried echinacea, with no good results. The only thing that has helped me has been vitamin C, but you have to take megadoses as Al Bundy said (but Linus Pauling said it before him). Vitamin C is not a cure, but it dampens the symptoms. When the symptoms begin to recur, you need another gram or two. Side effect is diarrhea, but the diarrhea ends when you stop the C.
This study apparently found that people who sleep less than 7 hours a night are three times as likely to catch a cold as people who sleep more than 8 hours.
Purely as an anecdote, I always feel like my sleep levels correlate strongly with cold or flu recovery time. If I’m ill and I spend a couple of days sleeping as much as possible I feel a lot better, a lot quicker.
Qadgop how much zinc do you need to take for it to be effective? That study said it was difficult to make an recommendations for dosage. You mentioned taking 25mg tablets, which is more than twice the RDA (11mg for adult men, 8mg for women). Does it have to be such a large dose? What if you just take the RDA?
Thanks for the link. Hmm… I’m still left a bit unsatisfied about the taste thing. “Bad taste” was pretty much the most significant difference between the groups, if I’m reading the string of acronyms and numbers right [what does “OR” mean?], and anything that tastes all medicine-y is sure to lead to placebo effects. (The abstract mentions “placebo-controlled” trials, but I can’t tell whether the placebo had any taste of its own, zinc-like or otherwise.)
That study mentions nauseau, too. I, too, became nauseated after using sublingual zinc, along with the bad taste.