The flu and common cold season is well under way as students nationwide are experiencing the sensation of high temperatures and mucus in places where we don't want them. Yes, America is in winter right now. And just like the bipolar weather, students' health have been fluctuating greatly. But now, a new study indicates that the gifted element of Zinc has proved its worth.
Studies on the effect of zinc have been conducted since 1984, and the insights from then on have supported the potency of zinc's remedial powers. If zinc is taken within 24 hours of the first symptoms, colds can be truncated "by an average of a day or more and sharply reduce the severity of symptoms, according to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, a respected medical clearinghouse." Additionally, The Journal of Infectious Diseases did a report in March 2008 that detailed the effectiveness of zinc lozenges. Amazingly, these things can slash the duration of colds to four days. Also, coughing can be reduced in two days.
The reason why zinc is so gosh-darn effective is up to debate, but the main consensus (in a simplified, easy-to-follow (hopefully) way) is that zinc has anti-viral properties that prevent the cold virus from growing or attaching to the nasal membranes.
I pray that everyone (one person in particular) who is sick will try out some zinc products. I'll admit that I have never heard of anything food-related when it comes to zinc, but apparently any normal drug store contains a healthy stock of edible zinc products.
So the next time your mom offers you a bowl of hot, steamy Chicken Noodle Soup, simply say, "No Mom. I want my Zinc."
5 comments:
Wow I never knew that zinc was proven to help cure the common cold. Now that I know this, whenever I feel like im getting sick, I can just pop a zinc pill haha. I think this means that pharmaceutical companies that produce medicine will make a lot more money because more people may think its more cheaper to just take zinc pills instead of paying for a flu shot. Hopefully all goes well for everyone who does get sick however.
This is quite interesting. Hopefully lazy people won't skip the annual flu shot in the hopes that they can just be treated with zinc, though. It seems the zinc truncates colds by an estimated one day only.
Or people could just stop faking being "sick." :)
This information about zinc is quite helpful. However, I believe that with a balanced diet, zinc supplements would not be necessary. The element can be found in red meat, poultry, beans nuts, seafood, whole grains and dairy products, yet another reason to eat whole grains and drink milk.
I find it very clever of the cough drop industry to start producing zinc lozenges, especially because the advertising can be so persuasive. In the case of Cold-Eeze zinc lozenges, which are sold at about 7 dollars, the package says "Clinically proven to reduce the duration of the common cold." That sure sounds great. For Cold-Eeze, consumers would associate a shorter duration of a cold with the product and the lozenges may seem like they are worth the $7 cost.
I am always amazed at how science has progressed in the past few decades, and centuries for that matter. It was only in 1928 when penicillin, the first antibiotic was discovered, and to date we have thousands of medicines which can cure a multitude of sicknesses and diseases. However, despite our ability to conquer diseases such as the Ebola virus and other biological threats we have been unable to cure the most basic of sicknesses, the "common cold." I believe that this new insight into the healing properties of zinc is only the beginning of our journey into being able to understand the common cold, and it seems that zinc will be key to unlocking the future of this sickness.
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