Natural, Effective Remedies for Colds and Flu
By Linda B. White, M.D.

Few people make it through the winter without a scratchy throat and an annoying runny nose. You can’t very well hold your breath all winter, but you can put your immune system in top-notch form to fight colds and flu by employing a variety of natural methods for hastening recovery and easing symptoms, such as herbal remedies, water therapy and supplements.

Common Causes
The reasons many of us get winter colds and flu are numerous: One, we’re indoors with other people while windows and doors are closed. Two, viruses causing most respiratory infections are always mutating, and our immune systems have trouble handling these ever-changing germs. Three, viruses can survive on non-porous surfaces for hours. If you turn a door handle recently touched by a sneezing, sniffling person, then lift a hand to your nose, you’ve infected yourself. Four, some respiratory viruses, notably influenza, become airborne when someone coughs. You only need to inhale three tiny viruses to become sick.

Several families of viruses cause colds. This viral mafia produces runny nose, sneezing, sore throat and cough. Though symptoms are usually mild and gone within a week, colds produce rampant absenteeism from work and school.           

Influenza is not as common as colds, and vaccines can help prevent the infection. Two main types of influenza viruses �?A and B �?cause most cases of the flu. Influenza viruses spread in the air and via direct contact. Flu symptoms are usually dramatic, with sudden onset of chills, fever and muscle aches. Nasal congestion is not as marked, but the cough can take weeks or even months to resolve.

Take the Waters      
When you come down with a cold or the flu, your respiratory tract works hard to expel the invading viruses along a veritable “Slip ’n Slide�?of mucus. Rather than drying those mucus secretions with an over-the-counter antihistamine, it’s better to accelerate the healing process by thinning them, thus making it easier to expel them.

The best way to thin mucus secretions is to add water to your system by drinking warm liquids, especially herbal teas and soup broth. If you have access to a steam shower, use it. If not, bring a quart-size pot of water to a boil, remove it from the stove and place your face a comfortable distance from the steam, then cover your head with a towel. Inhale through your nose if you’re stuffy, or through your mouth for chest congestion.

You can augment the power of steam by adding a handful of decongesting, antimicrobial herbs to the boiled water, then covering the pot and allowing them to steep for 10 to 15 minutes. Herbalist Mindy Green, coauthor of Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to the Healing Art, recommends using eucalyptus, thyme, rosemary or peppermint leaves.

Alternatively, you can add three drops of either eucalyptus or rosemary essential oil to the just boiled water. If you use peppermint, add only one to two drops. Don’t use essential oils of thyme and oregano for steam inhalation �?they’re too irritating. Close your eyes when inhaling essential oils. Caution: Aromatic vapors may aggravate asthma. Also, don’t take these concentrated plant essences by mouth, and keep the bottles out of children’s reach.

A warm bath can relax aching muscles and combat chills. You can either strain the herbs from your steam inhalation pot into a bath, or add five to eight drops of plant essential oils (only three drops for peppermint) to the tub. For muscle aches, try juniper, marjoram and ginger. Disperse the oils well before climbing in. For children 5 to 12 years old, add only one to two drops of essential oil diluted in vegetable oil. Green advises against the use of essential oils for small children or pregnant women.

Vitamins and Minerals
What about supplements? For years, the word on the street was that increasing vitamin C intake would protect you from colds. Vitamin C does indeed promote a healthy immune system, as do vitamin A, carotenes, zinc and selenium. The research on supplementing with these vitamins, however, hasn’t always yielded glowing results.

A 2004 review of vitamin C research concluded that the cumulative scientific data doesn’t justify mega-dosing vitamin C to prevent or treat the common cold. Even hefty doses (4 grams) at the onset of a cold didn’t seem to alter the course appreciably. A subgroup of people though �?those undergoing brief periods of intense physical exertion or exposure to cold �?did seem to catch fewer colds while taking vitamin C. Further, some vitamin C users do report a reduced duration and severity of cold symptoms, indicating that it may play some role in respiratory defense mechanisms. Typical daily doses are 200 to 500 milligrams a day. Eating vitamin C-rich foods, such as peppers, guava, citrus fruits, strawberries and leafy greens, is always a great idea. { One of my favorites - RM}

Now for zinc. In the winter, you can scarcely walk the aisles of your local grocery or drug store without bumping into the bags of zinc lozenges. But the research on zinc supplements is hard to sort.

There have been about a dozen studies on zinc lozenges and nasal gels, with mixed results. Lozenges are supposed to be sucked every two to three hours for the first couple days of a cold. The typical dosage for zinc gluconate lozenges is 9 to 24 milligrams of elemental zinc taken every two hours while awake and symptomatic. Side effects with the lozenges include nausea and weird taste. And there have been reports of people permanently losing their sense of smell after using the nasal gels �?a good reason to choose lozenges instead.

In a study conducted at the Ege University Medical School in Turkey, kids received zinc sulphate (15 milligrams of zinc) as a syrup for seven months, with a doubling of the dose at the onset of cold symptoms. Compared to kids who took a placebo syrup, those taking zinc had significantly fewer colds, and the colds they got were shorter and milder.

Herbal Comfort
Many herbs are used to decrease the severity of colds and flu. While research has been mixed, many of them were proven to aid healing.

Echinacea (E. angustifolia, purpurea and pallida) is the best-researched herb for enhancing immune defenses to help prevent respiratory tract infections. Several well designed studies support the use of this herb for the treatment of acute viral upper respiratory infections. Though a controversial 2005 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that extracts of the E. angustifolia root didn’t significantly affect viral infections, the American Botanical Council noted the dosage used in the study was lower than the amount recommended by the World Health Organization, as well as the Canadian Natural Health Products Directorate. Two more recent meta-analyses concluded that echinacea did reduce the duration and incidence of the common cold.

Two types of preparations have repeatedly been shown effective: the juice of the aboveground parts of E. purpurea (marketed as Echinagard), and the alcoholic extracts (tinctures) of the roots of E. purpurea and E. pallida. According to one study, echinacea tea may also be an effective remedy.

Most experts say that when a good product is taken in adequate and frequent doses at the onset of symptoms, echinacea can shorten the duration and severity of a cold. Based on new research, it may also make sense to start echinacea if you’ve been exposed to someone with a cold. The recommend dosage is two droppers full of echinacea mixed with water �?either the root tincture or the juiced aerial parts preserved in alcohol. This should be taken every two waking hours while symptomatic. Renowned herbalist Steven Foster, author of numerous books on medicinal plants, including Echinacea, acknowledges that perfect compliance is tough. His method when he feels a cold coming on? “I slug down 1 teaspoon of tincture at least three times a day.�?/FONT>