Zinc good for treating the common cold
14th July 2016
The adage that it takes about a week to get over a cold without medication but only seven days with medication, is in doubt - with three placebo-controlled trials showing that zinc reduces symptom duration.
Researchers analysed the three randomised trials involving almost 200 patients who had a cold. They found that those who took zinc acetate lozenges had colds that were around two to three days shorter on average, regardless of the initial severity of the cold.