ZINC NEITHER PREVENTS NOR TREATS COLDS
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9610 – 11/30/01
ZINC NEITHER PREVENTS NOR TREATS COLDS
Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
A study from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, shows that zinc nasal sprays do not prevent or treat the common cold.
Zinc inhibits the growth of viruses that cause the common cold in a test tube. However, your body is different from a test tube. Cold viruses have persisted for millions of years because they adapt to live in the mucous membranes of human noses and throats, and therefore are passed from person to person through handshakes, sneezes and material. Your body defends itself by producing antibodies and white blood cells, but only after your immunity has been infected with each virus and it produces cells and proteins specific to kill each cold virus. At this time, nobody really knows if zinc lozenges or nasal sprays may be able to treat the common cold because the virus could respond to higher concentrations, different vehicles or more frequent use.
Ineffectiveness of intranasal zinc gluconate for prevention of experimental rhinovirus colds. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2001, Vol 33, Iss 11, pp 1865-1870. RB Turner. Univ Virginia Hlth Syst, Dept Pediat, POB 800386, Charlottesville,VA 22908 USA
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