Your mom may have recommended chicken soup for a cold but a recent study shows that zinc is more effective.
Researchers reported on Tuesday that zinc lozenges, tablets, or syrup used at the first signs of a cold would more than likely bring about a faster recovery.
18 studies have been checked out where zinc was used for treating colds and some discovered that zinc supplements were modestly helpful while others showed no effects.
Analysis of 14 studies that was published in 2007 concluded that the studies, many of them were flawed to actually draw any conclusions.
However in the latest report that was published by the Cochrane Library which is an international network of experts who conduct reviews of research the scientists of India checked out 15 studies including an additional four published since 2000.
Zinc’s effectiveness was evaluated in two studies and the rest of the studies on the compound’s ability to shorten the length of colds involved 1,360 people from ages 1 to 65 with good overall health.
As the data was pooled the information showed the researchers that people who took the zinc within 24 hours at the start of symptoms were over their colds around one day sooner than people on placebos. The analysis also discovered that the severity of symptoms were milder in people who took the zinc products.