I’ve often complained, along with the rest of the world, that there is no magic pill yet designed to cure the world’s most common illness — the common cold. But now, there is some hope! There’s an excellent meta-analysis by the well-respected Cochrane Library which now says what some docs had been touting for years — that zinc supplements, when taken within 24 hours of cold symptoms, can truly improve symptom severity and length, as well as lower risk of needing antibiotics.… Read the rest
Monthly Archives: February 2011
Vitamin D — It's Trendy! Oh, Wait, Hold On A Minute…
Last year I bragged about vitamin D and the evidence showing benefits in multiple arenas, especially for fighting colds and flu. I even started taking 2,000 IU a day of vitamin D3.
But now…one wonderfully annoying thing about medicine is that one headline will say “medicine A is great for disease X”, but wait a couple years and another famous journal will contradict it — thus frustrating doctors and confusing the public.… Read the rest
"An Elaborate Fraud" — MMR Vaccine/Autism Connection Finally Debunked
Readers may remember a couple posts I wrote last year discussing the British Medical Journal’s retraction of the famous 1990’s study that linked the MMR vaccine to autism. Last May, the same British doctor lost his license, and this month the same journal is publishing a series of investigative articles which highlight how that study wasn’t simply incompetent but actually was an “elaborate fraud”, with data altered to fit the erroneous findings.… Read the rest
Diabetes — Do You Have It And Not Know It?
How many of you have ever been told by a doctor that you have pre-diabetes? Even more worrisome, how many readers have diabetes but don’t know it?
This is not a rare problem at all; it’s estimated that all over the world , maybe 1/3 of people with diabetes are walking around unaware of their disease diagnosis — mostly because they don’t get annual screening tests from a local clinic.… Read the rest
“Not All Bugs Need Drugs” — AKA Antibiotic Overuse…
Here’s another pop quiz: Which scenario below requires antibiotics?
- A fever for 3 days
- Cough that turns wet
- A cough that “gets deeper into my chest”
- Runny nose that turns yellow
The oversimplified answer is “none of the above“, at least not without having a doctor check you out first, to decide whether it’s a virus or a bacteria.… Read the rest
Fight Off Your Cold — With Gargling?
It’s definitely the middle of winter season already, and my clinic’s waiting room is filled with sniffly, sneezing patients. Since there’s no magic bullet to cure the common cold, what natural methods help? I’ve mentioned a lot of preventive medicines on my blog, especially my new favorite, vitamin D.… Read the rest