Cold comfort: do alternative cold treatments work? We went looking for evidence ... and we're still searching. (Health: cold `cures').

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

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COPYRIGHT 2002 Australian Consumers' Association

The colds season is upon us again, and with it the search for the golden panacea. Casting aside the conventional decongestants, expectorants and ephedrine `feel-good' pills, many people prefer to go alternative, with popular remedies including echinacea, vitamin C, zinc and garlic. But do they work?

There've been numerous studies attempting to prove or disprove the effectiveness of alternative cold remedies, but unfortunately these trials are generally of low quality, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions about the effectiveness of the treatment.

As an example, there was a Cochrane review--the Rolls Royce of medical reviews--of research on echinacea. The reviewers found 40 studies on it, but only 14 fully met what are considered to be the minimum criteria for a good-quality study--and even these had problems.

Challenges for researchers are correctly diagnosing a cold or upper respiratory tract infection, especially in the early stages, and reliably measuring the severity of the symptoms. Studies are often criticised for having small numbers of participants and for not disguising the products to ensure the people giving them out and taking them don't know if they're a placebo or the `real thing'. Then there are questions about all the unpublished papers: withheld for reasons of competition or because the results aren't in the interests of the organisation paying the bill.

Maybe you're tempted to bypass the so-called experts and just try something for yourself or ask your friends. However, there are over 100 cold viruses, and the symptoms, severity and duration of your cold depend to some extent on the type of virus as well as other (largely unknown) factors. If your cold symptoms are mild and short-lived, you'll never know if it was due to the treatment, or you just had a mild cold.

We reviewed the scientific evidence on a...

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