What Works for Treating the Common Cold? Many Doctors Say 'Not Much': NPR
- NPR, Nov. 30, 2023. Ed. 💊
When you go down the cold and flu aisle in a drugstore, it's easy to get lost in the array of products promising to clear sinus pressure, dry up sniffles and stop plaguing coughs. Some items even offer it all in one magical pill. But doctors say the science behind some of those claims is lackluster. "There's just not much that's very effective for treating the common cold," said Dr. Lauren Eggert in the Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Division at Stanford University.
"Most of the things out there — antihistamines, decongestants, cough medicines — none of them have a lot of evidence that they're super effective at improving cough or common cold symptoms." Headlines blasted that message in Sept. when the FDA found oral phenylephrine, which is an active ingredient in some Sudafed, Mucinex, and Dayquil products, is simply not effective. The review was prompted by inquiries dating back nearly a decade.
And pharmacists say that concerns over effectiveness could extend down the aisle.
Medical experts raised questions about other cold and flu ingredients, including other common cough suppressants and expectorants. "There could well be products that are on the market containing ingredients about which people have questions and which the agency has had a difficult time acting on because of the elaborate regulatory process," said Dr. Peter Lurie at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer watchdog group.
Many of the store ingredients today were grandfathered in more than 50 years ago, when the science backing many drugs did not meet the rigor of today's methodologies...
- More, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/11/30/1215702921/what-works-for-treating-the-common-cold-many-doctors-say-not-much
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