A few months back Jennifer Ackerman published her book, Ah-Choo!, a history of the common cold, research on it, and conclusions on various remedies. Her opinion, assiduously researched, is that zinc does not help to alleviate symptoms, nor reduce the duration of illness due to a “cold,” or rhinovirus. I moaned at this because I’ve spent plenty of dough over the years on zinc lozenges, and ingested dozens of them at the slightest sign of a ticklish throat, runny nose, or achy neck. I could’ve sworn zinc worked…but science is science, right?
Wrong! Research spearheaded in India and reported in the New York Times and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews confirms that zinc indeed lessens the duration of the common cold, as well as its intensity. This is great news, as most athletes are always looking for something/anything to help fight off illness. What’s interesting is that zinc also appears to work as a prophylactic, too–children taking zinc had fewer infections and fewer days on antibiotics.
So, next time you’re feeling run down, or have early symptoms, pop a zinc lozenge immediately–research indicates you must treat within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms. And one last bit: do NOT use zinc nasal sprays. People have permanently lost their sense of smell when using sprays!
Carry on.
