Health Feature Articles
Common Sense Combats the Common Cold
Janet Hackert, Regional Nutrition and Health Education Specialist
The air is getting cooler. The smoke is curling from
chimneys. That means cold season is upon us. But a
little common sense can help combat the common cold.
Many of us would like an easy way to prevent a cold. But
recent reviews of medical research show that there is no
“magic bullet” – at least not in Echinacea, Vitamin C,
or zinc.
Researchers at Hartford Hospital and University of
Connecticut studied the results of 14 randomized
controlled trials involving 1630 participants and found
that taking Echinacea helped reduce the chances of
catching a cold. But this contradicts the results of a
large 2005 trial, which contradicts a 2000 study. So
it’s not clear if Echinacea is effective in preventing
colds.
Scientists at University of Helsinki in Finland and
Australian National University looked at 24 trials
involving 10,708 participants and found that Vitamin C
had no effect on preventing a cold. With zinc, there is
so little research that it is difficult to determine
zinc’s effect on a cold.
Common sense still prevails. A cold is spread when
pathogens from a carrier leave that person’s body and
enter another’s through the mouth, nose, or eyes. Steps
to help prevention include:
- Sneeze or cough into a sleeve.
- Keep hands away from mouth, nose, and eyes.
- Keep other objects that could be contaminated,
such as pens, hair, necklace, keys, or clothing, out
of the mouth.
- Wash hands well and often. Use warm, running
water and soap and scrub for 20 seconds – as long as
it takes to sing the ABC’s. Sometime try timing your
usual duration for scrubbing and see how well you
meet the 20 second goal!
- After washing hands, don’t touch dirty faucet
handles or door knobs before eating.
- Always wash hands before eating or even touching food, even if it’s just a little snack at your germ-laden desk!
Last Updated 10/22/2008
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