This story query will investigate what health-minded stores recommend and what current research suggests about the effectiveness of preventing and treating colds and flu with natural products. Western medicine techniques are often expensive or impractical for treating a common cold. Consumers often seek the advice of store merchants for reducing illness duration or alleviating symptoms of a cold that may last 4-10 days. But some people dont have optimal levels of nutrients in their systems to fight off an infection quickly, laments Fuchs. In these cases some dietary supplements may help.
Stores are most likely the place consumers go to seek advice about natural remedies to illness.
Sherwood Stockwell, floor manager for the health care section at Whole Foods in Boulder, tries to educate and direct people toward what they are comfortable with. In addition to different brands and potencies, there are different forms of supplements as well. For example, there is zinc picolinate, zinc gluconate and zinc acetate, all of which have different prices and effectiveness for treatment for colds. Vitamin C, long accepted as an immune system booster and an anti-oxidant, has come under recent fire in regards to effectiveness and optimal dose for warding off colds. In addition, a recent report suggests that it may have a pro-oxidant effect in cigarette smokers.