"As for the popular Airborne and zinc supplements (in Zicam), Rotbart said there's no proof they work"
rockymountainnews.com
Grandma knew best
Old-fashioned rules still work to prevent flu, colds in winter
By Debra Melani, Special to the Rocky
Published October 27, 2008 at 6 p.m.
Bone-chilling moments and terrifying moans are expected Friday night, when spooky Halloween specters take to the streets.
But if you don't want those chills and moans to visit again this cold and flu season, heed Grandma's advice. She knew how to keep a home from becoming a House of Misery.
"Turns out she was right," said Dr. Harley Rotbart, a pediatrician and infectious-disease specialist with the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Good old-fashioned advice on warding off sick bugs has been buoyed by modern medical studies, said Rotbart, author of Germ Proof Your Kids.
Given a recent Food and Drug Administration recommendation that pediatric cold and cough medicines not be given to children younger than 4, parents might find this advice even more valuable.
* Grandma says: Wash your hands
You'd be hard-pressed to find a doctor who didn't agree. Hand- washing provides the No. 1 defense against colds and flu. "You can reduce gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses by upward of 30 (percent) to 40 percent just by regular hand-washing," Rotbart said.
Soap and water lifts the germs off the hands and washes them down the drain. But you do need to wash for 20 seconds - sing the Happy Birthday song twice at the normal pace - to be really effective, he said.
Although he'll tell you that germ counts are lower on hands washed with antibacterial soap because the product kills the bacteria that might not get washed away, Rotbart doesn't recommend it.
For one thing, no study has shown that the generally more expensive soap reduces infections, he said. For another: "Most infections (including all colds and flu) are caused by viruses."
Dr. Steven Johnson, an infectious-disease expert also with CU, agreed that antibacterial soaps are overkill for otherwise healthy people.
"There is some risk of developing some kinds of resistant bacteria," Johnson said.
Yet both Johnson and Rotbart agree that there's a place for the increasingly popular hand-sanitizing gels that kill bacteria and viruses. That place is in mini-vans, purses, backpacks and soccer bags.
* Grandma says: Eat your vegetables
Regular exercise? Yup. A good night's sleep? Yup. A balanced diet? You got it. Heeding regular health advice can help keep the misery bugs away.
Studies show that you can cut upper-respiratory illnesses by more than a third and the number of school or work days missed by half with regular moderate exercise, Rotbart said.
Catching eight hours of zzz's can do more than just keep you awake at work. One study found that a group of sleep-deprived adults had less than half the normal immune response to the flu vaccine, Rotbart said.
Both doctors said good nutrition, such as Grandma's chicken soup, can aid the immune system in its bug battles.
As for dietary supplements as weapons against germs, Rotbart says they're mostly a waste of money.
"There is only one product that is absolutely proven to reduce the duration and the severity of colds, and that is vitamin C," Rotbart said, emphasizing that he didn't say the vitamin can prevent colds.
A daily multi-vitamin covers the extra vitamin C requirement, but for those who don't take them, Rotbart recommends an extra 200 milligrams of vitamin C for all family members when someone in the house is sick.
As for the popular Airborne and zinc supplements (in Zicam), Rotbart said there's no proof they work.
* Grandma says: Wear a coat or you'll catch your death of cold
Rotbart's last proven old wives' tale is his favorite, because he didn't believe it all through medical school: Bundle up in the cold.
A study done in the '60s on prisoners seemed to disprove that cold exposure could increase risk of contracting viruses, but the study was eventually deemed flawed, he said.
"Then in 2005, a better study was done on 180 college students," Rotbart said. Half the students had their feet immersed in ice water for 20 minutes; the other half kept their feet toasty warm.
"Over the course of the next week, the cold-ice-bucket group had three times the number of colds as the other group."
The bottom line is, during cold and flu season, we're all exposed to bugs, he said. "The question is, which of us are going to get sick from them? If you've been exposed to a chill, you've walked out without a coat in icy weather and you happen to have that virus in you, the virus gets the upper hand. If you are toasty in your coat and you are also carrying that same virus, your immune system wins."
So, especially during sick season, be kind to yourself, he said, "because, in general, your immune system does win."
Info for flu shots
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its flu-vaccine recommendations this year to include all children ages 6 months to 18 years. It also recommends shots for pregnant women, people 50 years of age and older, people of any age with certain chronic medical conditions, people who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, and people who live with or care for those at high risk for complications from flu.
For a list of sources for flu shots:
* findaflushot.com; 1-877-962-9358
* immunizecolorado.com, 1-877-462-2911
* passporthealthco.com, 1-888-499-7277
* frontrangeflu.com, 1-303-797-3396
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