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February 17, 2011
Winter season is the time for colds and flu. A lot of us suffer from these problems in winter, and some of get sick really quite often. Unfortunately, there’s still no effective remedy for common cold, which would be able to protect us and ward off this disease with a high efficiency. That is why we are usually doing everything we can: receive preventive shots, drink a lot of warm teas, use herbal supplements, eat lots of natural foods high in vitamins and microelemnts, and use other natural solutions to boost the immune system. These days, scientists opened for us one more way to prevent colds: they say that zinc supplements can help reduce length and severity of common colds.
Zinc is well-know for its properties to boost our immune system, assist in healing wounds and injuries, prevent hair loss, and so on. The findings of the study published recently in The Cochrane Library, Oxford Center, suggest that by consuming more of this microelement, either by adding natural sources of zinc to your daily diet, or by using zinc supplements, we can lower our chances for having common cold, or at least for staying in bed with high fever and chest pains for weeks. Study involved the reviewing the finding of 15 previous researches, and some clinical trials took place in the UK and India, supported by a group of American specialists from Detroit University.
The scientists found out that zinc supplements, tablets or syrup taken on the onset of an illness like common cold or seasonal influenza, helps to reduce the severity of the symptoms, as well as the length of sickness. The participants who were taking zinc supplements and tables were able to get rid of all the symptoms of common cold for a week or so, which is much faster if compared to those who were taking placebo during the trials.
One of the leading specialists and researchers involved in these experiments, Meenu Singh, of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India, said: “This review strengthens the evidence for zinc as a treatment for the common cold. However, at the moment it is difficult to make a general recommendation, because we do not know very much about the optimum dose, formulation or length of treatment.” Further investigation will be determining the effectiveness of using zinc supplements for such disease as asthma. Anyway, remember that such foods as beef, poultry, seafood, cheese, peanuts, wholegrain cereals, yogurt, brown rice and others are among the best natural sources of zinc.
Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.
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