What to do about cold symptoms
What can people do for cold symptoms? Generations of grandmothers have relied on chicken soup with lots of garlic and thyme. In China, chicken soup might be fortified with astragalus root.
It’s that time of year! Cold and flu season has arrived. Most people have stopped worrying about exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They are shopping, going to sporting events, dining out and gathering with friends and family.
Chances are good that many folks will catch an upper respiratory tract infection this winter, even if they don’t come down with COVID-19. When that happens, they will head to the pharmacy looking for relief from their symptoms. How well will such remedies work?
Phenylephrine (PE) is a key ingredient in a great many over-the-counter cold and cough medicines. It’s found in Sudafed PE, Theraflu Severe Cold Relief, Advil Sinus Congestion and Pain and Mucinex Sinus Max, among other products.
Americans spend roughly $1.8 billion on hundreds of products containing PE. That’s why many people were shocked in September 2023 when the Food and Drug Administration admitted that oral phenylephrine is not effective in relieving nasal congestion.
This is not new news for most health professionals. We wrote about its lack of efficacy more than 50 years ago. Pharmacists even petitioned the FDA to take oral PE out of OTC cold remedies long ago. Given that the agency has now admitted that the ingredient is not effective orally, it may eventually disappear.
The two pharmacists who started the ball rolling, Drs. Hatton and Hendeles, wrote a commentary in The New York Times (Sept. 29):
“How can an ineffective drug discovered nearly 100 years ago and marketed since the 1930s still be on the market, despite decades of drug experts like us prodding the FDA to do something? It boggles the mind, and worse than that, this is only the tip of the iceberg. This decongestant is like many drugs on the market that don’t really provide relief.”
They go on to point out that other ingredients in many cough and cold medicines don’t actually work as expected. Dextromethorphan (DM) is supposed to suppress coughs. Although the FDA approved it in 1958, the drug remains controversial.
The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics (Dec. 17, 2018) notes that, “Dextromethorphan has not been shown to be effective or safe in young children.” In one study, researchers compared buckwheat honey to honey-flavored DM or no treatment for children with coughs due to colds (Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, December 2007). Honey worked best to control cough symptoms, while DM was not better than placebo.
What can people do for cold symptoms? Generations of grandmothers have relied on chicken soup with lots of garlic and thyme. In China, chicken soup might be fortified with astragalus root.
“Golden milk” made with turmeric is popular in India. One reader wrote: “Turmeric milk is an old old Ayurvedic remedy for cough and colds. Ayurvedic treatment has been practiced in India for thousands of years.”
Onion syrup has also been used in India and Europe to calm coughs. A cut onion is cooked with sugar or honey in some recipes. In others, the onion is sprinkled with sugar; the resulting juice is used as a cough syrup.
To learn more about home remedies and herbal approaches to ease symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections, you may wish to read our “eGuide to Colds, Coughs & the Flu.” This online resource can be found under the Health eGuides tab at www.PeoplesPharmacy.com.
In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email them via their website: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.”