Introducing Epimedium

Epimedium is a genus of plants comprising some 50 or more species. Two species are found around the mediterranean, where they are known by names such as Bishop’s Hat, Fairy Wings or, less poetically, Barrenwort. The genus is far more abundant in Asia, where the majority of the species are found. In China, Epimedium was long ago given the name Horny Goat Weed (Yin Yang Hao). As the legend has it, a goatherd noticed that eating the plant caused his male goats to become very excitable; Epimedium entered the Chinese pharmacopeia as a male libido enhancer, and remains popular as such to this day.

What’s in a name?

The difference in nomenclature on the two continents, Barrenwort in Europe or Horny Goat Weed in Asia, is intruiguing. Dioscorides the Greek wrote about Epimedium in the 1^st century AD. His recommended use for it was as a contraceptive; there was not even a hint in his writings that it could be used as a male libido enhancer. In 1597, Gerard of London recorded it as ‘Barren Woort’ because ‘as some authors affyrme, being drunke it is an enemie to conception.’ ⁽¹⁾. So why the difference in names? Perhaps the species endemic to each continent have different properties. In China, Epimedium is used as an aid to fertility, but perhaps in Europe, the species that grow there do not have the same effect. Let’s look at that.

Pharmacological studies can offer some answers. Horny Goat Weed makes males ‘strong’, as a traditional Chinese medicine practioner would say; a euphemism, if ever I have heard one, for curing erectile dysfunction. It turns out that Horny Goat Weed does in fact contain a compound whose mechanism of action is very much like Viagra. The compound, icariin, inhibits PDE-5 activity, which regulates blood flow in the penis, and increases the production of nitric oxide. It’s the most likely primary active component of Epimedium extracts.

Dioscorides and the Chinese Materia Medica were talking about different species of Epimedium, although this distinction has become lost by contemporary writers. Commonly, the species that is known as Horny Goat Weed is the Asian Epimedium grandiflorum, a species for which taxonomic databases list the name ‘barrenwort’ as a synonym. However, the common European species is Epimedium alpinum, named in 1793 by Linnaeus, and this is the species that is more deserving of the name ‘barrenwort’. The use of the synonym for E. grandiflorum is historically incorrect.

So does the species matter? The tumescing compound icariin has been identified in E. pubescens, E. wushanense, E. myrianthum, E. sagittatum, E. koreanum and E. brevicornu ⁽¹⁾, as well as in E. grandiflorum. All of these species of Epimedium are found in Asia, where much of the research has been carried out. The European E. alpinum, on the other hand, has not been studied for the presence of icariin, perhaps a consequence both of it being on the wrong continent for this kind of research, and it not being traditionally used as an aphrodisiac.

Which begs the next question: was it not used as an aphrodisiac because nobody knew it had male enhancement properties, or was it not used as such because it didn’t have that effect? Its use in China, so the legend tells, took the serendipitious coming together of a flock of goats, an observant goat herder and a sufficient abundance of the plant that it could form a noticeable part of the goat’s diet. In the absence of these three conditions, would anyone in Europe have noticed?

Dioscorides had noticed something about Epimedium, but it wasn’t that it enhanced virility. Rather, as he wrote, “The root causes barrenness. Three teaspoonfuls of the leaves pounded into small pieces, and taken as a drink in wine for three days after the menstrual flow purgation, keeps women from conception.” This useage of Epimedium is the one that persisted in Europe, although no legend accompanies to tell the origins of this use.

A contraceptive and a libido enhancer?

The contraceptive properties of Epimedium have been subjected to little investigation, compared to it’s sexual enhancement properties. Intriguingly, however, icariin has been found to also have estrogen-like (phytoestrogenic) effects. The phytoestrogen flavonoids icariin, genistein and daidzein, all derived from Epimedium, have been investigated for their potential to regulate hormone-induced osteoporisis, a use for which they have shown some promise. It’s certainly possible, alhtough not at all proven, that E. alpinum may be sufficiently hormonally disruptive to interfere with a woman’s cycle, thus earning it the name ‘barrenwort’.

Two continents apart, Epimedium came to be known for two very different uses. If not for a legendary flock of goats, it’s PDE-5 inhibiting properties may have never been discovered. If not for a scrupulous Greek named Dioscorides, it’s supposed role in preventing conception never recorded. But looking back, it is the traditional Chinese usage that has stood the test of time.

Postscript

Stearn’s monograph on Epimedium ⁽³⁾ discussed whether the plant that Dioscorides described, was the same plant that we now call Epimedium. I think that the phytoestrogenic potential identified in extracts of Epimedium grandiflorum make it more likely that the identification is correct; even notwithstanding that there has been very little research into the contraceptive properties of the plant.

(1) 1597 Gerard, London

(2) http://www.plantsystematics.com/qikan/manage/wenzhang/aps06172.pdf

(3) The Genus Epimedium and Other Herbaceous Berberidaceae By William Thomas Stearn, Julian Shaw, Peter Shaw Green, Brian Matthew. 2002.

John Wesley was an 18^th Century Anglican priest who founded Methodism in England, Ireland and North America. He was a leader in the issues of social justice, and took a keen interest in the health of the poor. This interest led to him publishing a book of inexpensive and traditional remedies.

It is from this book that we read of a cure for warts that remains popular to this day. To whit,

Warts.

Rub them daily with a Radish;

Or, with Juice of Dandelion;

Or, of Marigold Flowers;

Or, water in which Sal Ammoniac is dissolved.

In 1761, when Wesley recorded this remedy, dandelion sap was already a traditional treatment for warts and likely had been for some time – but how long, I don’t know.

Warts are caused by a papillomavirus, and are contagious with skin contact or through sharing items such as towels. An awareness of its transmissibility may have been the foundation of some of the more unusual remedies for wart removal. For example,

“Rub a white bean on the warts, wrap it in paper, and throw it on the road; whoever picks it up will get the warts.” (2)

It is, in fact, quite possible, albeit unlikely, that one could transfer warts to another person this way. What won’t happen is that by doing so, one’s own warts would thereby be cured; all that would happen is that both individuals would have warts. Besides, we know now that warm, humid surfaces are good vectors of transmission, and probably better than white beans. Here’s another old remedy:

“If you find an old bone in the field, rub the wart with it, then lay it down exactly as you found it. The wart will be cured.” (2)

Again, we have the notion that a wart can be magically transferred to something else. In this case, an old bone. It isn’t stated whether the cure is effected instantaneously, or if it takes weeks or months. If the latter, well, there’s a good reason for that.

Warts are, or can be, self limiting. That is, they won’t necessarily stay around for ever. A recent study on modern wart treatments concluded that no method was more than 73% effective. Just using a placebo had a 27% success rate (3). That 27% placebo effect has probably been behind a great deal of  these traditional wart remedies. Look at it this way: if 100 people rub their warts with an old bone, 27 of them will be ‘cured’, if those numbers for placebo hold true. But it won’t be the bone that did it. They would have gotten better anyway.

So what about our dandelion sap? It so happens that there are no clinical trial data. There are several centuries of reports of it being used as a wart treatment, but there is just as much proof of its effectiveness as there is for that old bone, or the trick with the white bean. Researchers haven’t taken enough interest in dandelion sap as a wart cure to really put it to the test. That isn’t to say that it won’t work, but there really isn’t any evidence that it will.

What does work is over the counter salicylic acid, followed, in efficacy, by freezing.  When it comes down to it, dandelion sap might be  just as effective for warts as rubbing an old bone.

oooOooo

(1) Primitive Physick, Or, An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. By John Wesley, John Benjamin Wesley, William Strahan, Frank Baker Collection of Wesleyana and British Methodism. Published by printed by W. Strahan, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, 1761

(2) Memoirs of the American Folk-lore Society. American Folklore Society. Published for the American Folk-Lore Society by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1896

(3) Gibbs S, Harvey I. Topical treatments for cutaneous warts. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001781. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001781.pub2.

Peppermint oil has long been well regarded for its stomach soothing properties. So much so that In 1833, oil of peppermint was even thought be “a more or less advantageous remedy for cholera.” An enormous quantity, some 700 pounds of it, was imported to Germany from France in just one month alone (1).

But it wasn’t the case that physicians of the time were convinced that peppermint could save people from the cholera. Far from it. As one doctor wrote,

“Fear being a great exciter of cholera, the inhabitants have been advised to carry about them different odoriferous substances, such as peppermint oil… but in fact the physicians do not really believe in the repelling power of these ingredients; they merely look upon them as a species of amulet, fit for tranquilizing the minds of the timid.”

Peppermint oil may have offered a modicum of relief for cholera sufferers, but it wouldn’t have saved them. As we now know, water and electrolyte replacement therapy, with antibiotics to kill the cholera bacteria, are the most effective treatments for this disease. Still, peppermint oil was also widely used for its therapeutic benefits in other indications.

In pharmacy manuals of the time, peppermint oil was recommended for spasmodic and flatulent pains of the stomach and bowels, as well as for cramp, faintness and nausea (2). The earliest reference for this indication that I could find dated as far back as 1778 (3); it also mentioned that peppermint was employed by the Edinburgh College in their aqua mirabilis, or “miracle water”, a popular health tonic.

The old has become new again, with reports that peppermint oil, which has antispasmodic properties, outperformed placebo in treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). A recent meta-analysis compared the effects of peppermint oil, pharmaceutical antispasmodics and fiber on IBS (4). The analysis considered four trials that used peppermint oil, three of which scored more than 4 on the Jadad scale, a measure of study quality. A score of 4 out of 5 indicates that these three studies fulfilled a majority of quality criteria.

The results? The NNT, or ‘number needed to treat’ with peppermint oil to prevent one patient having persistent symptoms, was between 2.5-3.0. By comparison, the same meta-analysis found that the NNT for the antispasmodic medications reviewed was 5, and 11 for fiber.

This meta analysis provides good evidence that even simple remedies like peppermint oil do have tangible benefits for IBS sufferers.

And please, if you are reading this because you have cholera, go see a physician instead. Fast.

oooOooo

(1) Oil of Ocymum basilicum, M. Bonastre. Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Published by Philadelphia college of pharmacy, 1833

(2) A Manual of Pharmacy By William Thomas Brande Published by Underwood, 1825

(3) The New Dispensatory: Elements of Pharmacy By William Lewis Published by J. Potts, 1778

(4) BMJ 2008;337:a2313

ADHD is a funny diagnosis. There is a lot of agreement on the symptoms, as used in, for example, the DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. The causes of the condition, however, are not a matter of agreement. Wikipedia has a good overview of the competing theories.

Whether you agree with the use of stimulant medications for ADD or not – which the science says are safe – people with ADD/ADHD often come up with their own coping mechanisms in addition to, or instead of, drugs.

Recent research offers another option for the attention challenged; one that is entirely non-pharmaceutical.

The paper, “The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature” by Marc Bergman et al. looks at the evidence for something called Attention Restoration Theory.

The idea is that, in an urban environment, one’s attention is grabbed in sudden and dramatic ways and the mind must remain vigilant, for example to avoid being hit by a car. In natural settings, while one’s attention may be drawn to things like sunsets or birds, such distractions are not overly taxing to the brain. The result is that cognitive function, especially the ability to focus, is restored more by being in nature than in an urban environment.

To quote:

“Interacting with environments rich with inherently fascinating stimuli (e.g., sunsets) invoke involuntary attention modestly, allowing directed-attention mechanisms a chance to replenish. That is, the requirement for directed attention in such environments is minimized, and attention is typically captured in a bottom-up fashion by features of the environment itself.

So, the logic is that, after an interaction with natural environments, one is able to perform better on tasks that depend on directed-attention abilities.

Unlike natural environments, urban environments contain bottom-up stimulation (e.g., car horns) that captures attention dramatically and additionally requires directed attention to overcome that stimulation (e.g., avoiding traffic, ignoring advertising, etc.), making urban environments less restorative.”

Natural settings allow the directed-attention mechanisms a chance to replenish, while urban environments require the use of directed attention mechanisms.

The country is the remedy for a short attention span. This one has to at least be worth a try.

Reference:

The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature. Marc G. Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan. Psychological Science, December 2008.

]]> http://countryremedies.com/add-adhd-where-the-country-is-the-remedy/feed/ 0 http://countryremedies.com/echinacea/ http://countryremedies.com/echinacea/#comments Sat, 08 Nov 2008 04:12:55 +0000 aria http://countryremedies.com/?p=37 Echinacea. Its the first thing that many people take when they feel a cold coming on. Many people even take it throughout the winter months to prevent a cold from starting. So what evidence is there for the use of this popular herb as a cold remedy?

Traditional uses of Echinacea

Echinacea, or purple coneflower, grows across the continental United States. It was traditionally used by Native Americans for a variety of ailments, as an antiseptic and antibiotic, to treat skin wounds; it was useful for toothache, relieving sore throats and as a cure for snakebite. The first English settlers used it for treating saddle sores. As for it having a traditional use for colds, one source reports that only the Crow Indians used Echinacea for treating colds and upper respiratory infections (1), another (2) that only the Cheyenne,did so. It certainly appears that the modern indication of Echinacea for colds was not commonplace among the different Native American groups.

Echinacea was described, in the 1898 King’s Medical Dispensary, as follows: “Though now a well-known drug, echinacea stands peculiarly alone in being essentially a new remedy. Many remedies which have lately been introduced can be traced back for years, and some of them for centuries, as having at some time occupied a place in either domestic or professional practice, but our ancient scientific works are silent concerning this species of echinacea.”(3)

Popularisation of Echinacea

The sense that it was a ‘new’ remedy may have arisen because in the 1870s, a doctor, one H.C.F. Meyer, ‘rediscovered’ Echinacea and popularized it as a cure for snakebites, claiming that he had never had a case of snakebite that it couldn’t cure. Within 20 years, it had become the most popular herb in the USA (4).

There was some initial confusion as to which species of Echinacea was to be used. Gray, in the Synoptical Flora of North America (5), wrote that Echinacea was “Used in popular medicine under the name Black Sampson”, but that name referred to Echinacea purpurea. Meyer had actually based his remedies on Echinacea angustifolia, an altogether different, narrow leafed species. To this day, many people are unaware of a difference and do not appreciate that not all Echinacea products are alike.

For much of the following decades and the early part of the 20th century, Echinacea was used for everything but colds. Boericke’s Materia Medica (1901) recommended it for blood poisoning, sepsis, gonorrhea, boils, gangrene, cankers, ulcers, heartburn and as anti venom, among other possible uses (6). Such claims or Echinacea far exceeded the available evidence. By way of an example, Ellingwood wrote in 1919 that Echinacea was effective for treating rabies, although he did express some skepticism:

“By far the most difficult reports to credit are those of the individuals bitten by rabid animals; there are between twenty and thirty reports at the present time. In no case has hydrophobia yet occurred, and this was the only remedy used in many of the cases.” (7)

Over 100 years later, rabies remains an exceptionally intractable disease. Survival depends on getting a rabies vaccination as soon as possible after being bitten; by the time symptoms appear, it is too late. Yet in 1919, he reported that Echinacea was an effective rabies cure:

“One case exhibited the developing symptoms of hydrophobia before the agent was begun. They disappeared shortly after treatment.”

Use by the medical establishment

Echinacea was widely used by physicians, especially the Eclectics, and had begun to attract research interest. In 1915, a New York physician named Victor von Unruh showed that Echinacea increased the phagocytic power of leukocytes (the white blood cells). He went on to report that Echinacea improved hyperleukocytosis (too many white blood cells) and leukopenia (too few white blood cells).

Lets take a look at that. Two such contradictory findings as these raise an important question: viz., is it an immune system stimulator, or an immune system suppressant? In fact this looks like a simple case of what is known as ‘regression to the mean’. An unusually high leukocyte count, over time, can be expected to fall back to a normal level. An unusually low leukocyte count, over time, may also be expected to return to normal levels. This return to the mean, or average, values, can occur whether treated with Echinacea or not, an explanation more plausible than that of a mysterious leukocyte balancing effect for Echinacea; the changes in white blood cell counts occurred independently of the treatment.

Weak though this evidence may have been, by the end of the 1920s, Eclectics such as Liebstein, writing in 1927, were praising Echinacea’s powers as an immune system stimulant in glowing terms: “Nature has probably destined Echinacea to be used for remedial purposes only, as a sustainer of vitality, an organizer of the defensive powers of the system, to such an extant as to be justly crowned the greatest immunizing agent in the entire vegetable kingdom, as far as is known to medical science” (8).

Echinacea becomes popular in Europe

From the late 1930s onwards, research into Echinacea began to take off in Germany, even as its use declined in the United States. In an unusual twist of circumstance, Dr Gerhard Madaus had procured a batch of what he thought was Echinacea angustifolia seeds, with the intention of cultivating them in Germany, but turned out to be the seeds of the different but closely related species Echinacea purpurea. Extracts of the plant flowers are sold to this day by Madaus under the name Echinacin. As a consequence, much of the European research on Echinacea has been conducted on the Echinacin extract from E. purpurea, and not the E. angustifolia species that had been in widespread use in the USA.

Numerous studies, many from the Madaus research labs, demonstrated the effects of Echinacin on a broad spectrum of diseases. See (8) for a comprehensive overview of such research. The areas of investigation included its topical use in wound healing, high dose injections of Echinacin for inhibiting streptococcus and pertussis, and various attempts to identify the modes of action and the active ingredients of the plant extract. Some of these later studies appeared to confirm von Unruh’s first conclusion; that Echinacea can  potentially stimulate the immune system. However, as interesting as these studies were, only a few had the statistical power of the placebo controlled double blind trial, and fewer still were undertaken on human subjects. This is a critically important consideration if we are interested in the evidentiary base for the current use of Echinacea, which is as an immune system stimulant and a treatment for preventing or shortening the duration of the common cold.

Echinacea as a cold cure

While there have been many decades of research into Echinacea, what I have so far been unable to find is the smoking gun, a study that first linked Echinacea to treating colds. At some point in the past few decades, Echinacea entered the popular lexicon as a cold treatment and immune stimulant; perhaps it was the accumulation of all of these in vitro and high dose studies that created the idea.

In 1999, the respected Cochrane Collaboration reviewed the evidence for using Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold, based on 16 different published trials (9). While doing so, the reviewers ran up against a few obstacles. First, the extracts in common use can come from different species (E. angustifolia, E. purpurea or E. pallida). Secondly, extracts can be made from different parts of the plant. Echinacin is an extract of the aerial parts of E. purpurea. Other extracts are made from the plant root. Different extraction methods can be used, such as drying, alcohol extraction or pressing, so one can’t assume that all of these different sources and preparations will yield an identical herbal remedy. I’ll quote their findings here.

“We reviewed 16 controlled clinical trials investigating the effectiveness of several different Echinacea preparations for preventing and treating common colds. Two trials investigated whether taking Echinacea preparations for 8 to 12 weeks prevents colds but found no clear effect. The majority of trials investigated whether taking Echinacea preparations after the onset of cold symptoms shortens the duration or decreases the severity of symptoms, compared with placebo. It seems that some preparations based on the herb of Echinacea purpurea might be effective for this purpose in adults, while there is no clear evidence that other preparations are effective or that children benefit. Side effects were infrequent but rashes were reported in one trial in children.”

Their analysis was hardly a ringing endorsement. They found that extracts of E. purpurea may have been more beneficial than E. angustifolia or E. purpurea, but it was far from clear. A later meta-analysis, published in 2005, looked at the quality of nine studies of Echinacea as a cold treatment. Six of the studies found that Echinacea had any benefit, and three found that it did not. Of the positive trials, none met the quality criteria, whereas two of the negative studies did so. In particular, the blinding procedures were inadequate, as the extract has a distinctly bitter taste and patients could potentially identify if they were receiving the placebo or the extract (10).

Later still, a meta-analysis in 2007 concluded that, based on 14 studies, “echinacea has a benefit in decreasing the incidence and duration of the common cold; however, large-scale randomised prospective studies controlling for variables such as species, quality of preparation and dose of echinacea, method of cold induction, and objectivity of study endpoints evaluated are needed before echinacea for the prevention or treatment of the common cold can become standard practice. (11)”.

100 years of research into Echinacea

Let’s review the field. Almost a century after laboratory studies on Echinacea began in earnest, its popular use has transformed from that of being a snakebite and sepsis cure to that of immune system stimulant and a treatment for the common cold. A number of in vitro studies support the immuno-stimulant effect, although there is a deficit of clinical data to support such a use in clinical practice. The evidence for its use as a cold treatment is decidedly mixed; many clinical trials were of too poor quality to reach a definitive conclusion; one meta-analysis found some supporting evidence, in contrast to other meta analyses, including a Cochrane review, that found little. Even after all this time, there exists no consensus on the plant part to use, the plant species, the best extraction method or the effective dose. The specific components of Echinacea that supposedly treat the common cold have not been identified, beyond a vaguely worded immuno-stimulant effect.

This traditional remedy, at one time a wound treatment, antiseptic, snake bite cure, and general cure all, could still hold surprises. There may be an optimal preparation, or species, or extract of Echinacea for treating a cold, but nobody yet knows what that is. Lack of knowledge of which preparations are most effective, as well as poor study quality, are factors that may go a long way to explaining the very mixed results for Echinacea as a cold treatment. Other indications, such as wound healing, one of its traditional uses, could prove to be more appropriate and successful, but given its current popularity as a cold treatment, research into colds will predominate.

At the present time, I am far from convinced that an over the counter, low dose preparation of Echinacea would have any benefit over placebo. However, I’ll go this far: taking Echinacea at the onset of a cold could mean getting better within just seven days, rather than one week.

oo0oo

1 Lewis, W.H. & Elvin- Lewis, M.P.F. (2006). Medical Botany- Plants affecting human health, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons INC, Hoboken, New Jersey

2 http://www.naturalmedicinesofnc.org/Echinacea/Echinacea-history.html

3 King’s American Dispensatory, 1898

4 Echinacea: Nature’s Immune Enhancer, Stephen Foster, 1991

5 Synoptical flora of North America. Asa Gray (undated)

6 Boericke’s Materia Medica, 1901

7 The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy, 1919, Finley Ellingwood, M.D.

8 Echinacea: Nature’s Immune Enhancer. Steven Foster. Published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Company, 1990

9 Linde K, Barrett B, Bauer R, Melchart D, Woelkart K. Echinacea for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD000530. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000530.pub2.

10 Caruso TJ, Gwaltney JM (2005). “Treatment of the common cold with echinacea: a structured review”. Clin. Infect. Dis. 40 (6): 807–10. doi:10.1086/428061

11 Evaluation of echinacea for the prevention and treatment of the common cold: a meta-analysis. Lancet Infectious Diseases 2007; 7: 473–80

Folk wisdom in countries like Mexico, where people love to eat hot and spicy food, is that chilli can ward off illness. There may be some truth to that, at least for chickens. Adding capsaicin, the spicy component of chilli peppers, to chicken feed increased resistance to Salmonella.

Apparently, the spice inflames the intestine, and this inflammation may be what prevents Salmonella binding to the intestinal cells. The chickens don’t seem to mind the heat, as they, along with most birds, don’t appear to taste the pepper. However, rodents do, so adding pepper to bird feed can also keep mice and rats away.

The idea that cold weather, and exposure to cold weather, has been around for centuries.

Celsus, in the 1st Century AD, wrote:

“Winter provokes headache, coughs, and all the affections which attack the throat, and the sides of the chest and lungs.”

We all know to wrap up warm before going outside in the cold, but can simply getting cold cause a cold?

The short answer is no. Colds are caused by a virus, to which one must be exposed. Cold weather won’t by itself cause a cold. So why are there more colds, headaches, coughs and flu in the winter than in other seasons? Here is a breakdown of the main explanations.

• First, exposure to cold may impair the body’s immune system, so that one is more susceptible to any viruses to which one comes in contact. Wrapping up warm is good advice in so far as it gives the body a better chance at fighting off infections.

• Secondly, cold, dry air may be better suited for the survival of cold virii. The chances of exposure to a cold virus are therefore increased.

• Thirdly, when the body is cold, the blood vessels in the nose constrict and the temperature of the mucosal membrane falls. This reflex could decrease resistance to infection. A 2005 study found that chilling people’s feet led to a 10% increase in colds within a 4/5 day period, perhaps due to this effect.

• Fourthly, people are more crowded together in the winter months, so the chances of exposure to a cold virus are greater.

To prevent a cold, there’s no harm in following your grandmother’s advice. Wrap up and stay warm. Perhaps try to keep that cold nose away from other people, as when you are warm and your nose is warm, you may be better able to fight off infection. Finally, if you can’t avoid people entirely, which would be a sure way of preventing a cold, then wash hands often. Colds can be picked up from touching contaminated surfaces like door handles. Soap doesn’t kill cold virii, but it will help to remove them from the skin.

Colds cannot be cured. The common cold is caused by a virus, and usually just needs to run its course. However, there are things one can do to treat the symptoms of a cold, and get through it as unscathed as possible. If you really can’t get, or don’t want, antihistamines (to treat the itching, watery eyes, runny noses or tickly throat), decongestants (to relieve a stuffy nose, blocked sinuses and sinus headaches), or cough suppressants (to relieve a cough that keeps you awake at night), here are some other things to try. These remedies are categorized from most likely to least likely to work.

Most effective cold treatments:

Drink plenty of fluids and get some rest. Your body is producing lots of fluid that need to be replenished. Take things easy and allow your body to heal itself.

Chicken soup. It’s an old standby, but one that has some good science behind it. A lot of people find that they crave hot soups when they have a cold; the steam from the soup, or indeed any hot beverage, can ease congestion and open the airways.

Spicy foods, like curry, horseradish, mustard and chillis can help clear the sinuses.

Possibly effective cold treatments:

Vitamin C in high doses has been a popular treatment for the cold, ever since Linus Pauling first popularised the idea in his book, Vitamin C and the Common Cold. However, since then, evidence to support its use for shortening or preventing a cold has been hard to find.

Zinc is another popular treatment for colds, but again, the evidence for it is limited.

Nasal washes: Inhaling liquid through the nose and out the mouth is a centuries old decongestant treatment. Home made preparations can be put together using a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of baking soda in warm water. So far, the evidence shows little effect on cold symptoms, but they may be useful for very temporary relief of congestion.

Ineffective cold treatments:

Echinacea. A benchmark study in 2005 found that this herb doesn’t treat or help colds, contrary to  received wisdom. While a few other studies have come up with positive results, there is nothing conclusive to indicate the use of Echinacea either prophylactically or to limit cold duration. You can read a long review here. 

So, just take care of yourself. Get lots of rest, eat and drink hot soups and spicy foods. Most colds just need time.

ooOoo

Resources:

National Institutes of Health

Cough remedies

Not all honeys are the same, though: just as honeys differ depending on the flowers from which it is made, so do different types of honey have different levels of antibiotic potential. Manuka honey from New Zealand has been studied and found to be particularly effective. Still, all honeys share a similar ability to clear infections, because of their high sugar content, which confers an osmolarity potential high enough to inhibit bacterial growth.

The basis for an additional antibacterial property of honey beyond the osmolarity effect apparently comes from an enzyme, called glucose-oxidase, that produces hydrogen peroxide. The ‘inhibine number’ may sometimes be used to refer to the relative antibacterial potency of different honeys, which is related to the activity of this enzyme.

Honey is attracting a great deal of scientific interest for its role in wound treatment, especially as some honeys, such as that from Leptospermum trees, have an unusually strong antibacterial effect. Uncovering why this is may reveal previously unknown compounds that could be used to fight infections and promote healing. As well as wounds, the lotus honey from India is said to be good for eye disease, and even Aristotle wrote that “pale honey was good as a salve for sore eyes and wounds.” When it comes to honey, one of the most traditional of country remedies, there is still much to be learned.

Further reading:

http://www.worldwidewounds.com/2001/november/Molan/honey-as-topical-agent.html

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-07/uob-hhp072706.php

Dr Lillian Beard gave this excellent talk on her book “Salt in Your Sock and Other Tried-and-True Home Remedies.”

Beard, an associate clinical professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine and the medical contributor on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning Washington,” compiled hundreds of family recipes for wellness from her patients and colleagues during a 30-year period of practicing medicine.

According to Beard, as long as there have been grandmothers, tight budgets and sniffles, there have been home remedies. Beyond chicken soup, the kitchen can be a gold mine for products that alleviate many common ailments.

The book is also a cracking read.

For example:

• For cold sores, apply cool, wet teabags (Earl Grey preferred).
• For nosebleeds, have your child sniff a pinch of cayenne pepper.
• For earaches, fill a sock with salt warmed in a frying pan, then hold the sock against the affected ear.