Zinc may hasten recovery from common cold

July 9, 1996
Web posted at: 10:00 p.m. EDT

From Correspondent Rhonda Rowland

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Over the next year, doctors figure, adults in the United States will catch the common cold two to four times, and children, six to eight times. The symptoms, including sneezing, runny nose, congestion, aching muscles and sore throat, are all too familiar, and can cause absence from work or school.

A cure has eluded medical science for years, but according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a new treatment may provide some relief.

Cleveland Clinic researchers studied 100 patients who had cold symptoms for less than 24 hours; half took a zinc lozenge product called "Cold-Eeze," and the other half took a placebo. The ones who took the zinc lozenges reduced the length of their cold by 42 percent.

"It was a surprisingly dramatic effect. There was nearly a 50 percent reduction in the duration of the symptoms of the common cold; it went from 7.6 to 4.4 days," said Dr. Michael Macknin of the Cleveland Clinic. "It's the first thing I'm aware of that actually has decreased the duration of cold symptoms to this extent."

Other cold remedies only relieve the symptoms, without changing the course of the cold.

However, there is a catch in taking zinc lozenges. The patients who showed improvement had to take a lozenge every two hours while awake, and most said the medicine has a bad aftertaste. About 20 percent had nausea while taking the lozenges, and 10 percent stopped taking the medicine because they couldn't tolerate it.

Seven other studies have looked at treating the common cold with zinc lozenges; of those, only three found some benefit, and four studies found no effect. "Some people think that the reason that is, is because some preparations of the zinc lozenges actually have other substances in them that inactivate the zinc, and don't make the zinc ion available to exert its beneficial effect," Macknin said. (94k AIFF or WAV sound)

Since the findings are contradictory, researchers say more studies are needed to determine whether zinc lozenges are a viable treatment for the common cold.

Related story:

• The common cold - Feb. 20, 1996

Related sites:

• Common cold: Benefits?
• Facts about the common cold
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: The Cold

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