It’s that time of year again, when stuffy noses and irrepressible coughs start to show up everywhere. The best precaution you can take against influenza or Covid infection is to get vaccinated. But there is little you can do for the common cold and other respiratory illnesses, especially once you get sick. Most are caused by viruses, so you cannot cure them with antibiotics, which are used to treat bacterial infections.
For everyone else, doctors suggest resting and waiting out your symptoms — which for flu, can include a fever, headache, body aches and a stuffy or runny nose that lasts three to five days. Some people may also develop a cough or sore throat or experience fatigue, which can last a little longer, said Dr. H. Keipp Talbot of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Symptoms of the common cold are incredibly similar, which is why people tend to “call everything that’s in the winter the flu,” Dr. Talbot said. But cold symptoms are generally slower to build up, are milder than what you would experience with the flu and are unlikely to result in serious health problems.
For generations, countless home remedies — cups of warm tea or soups and spoonfuls of herbs — have helped manage cold and flu symptoms, like a sore throat or congestion. Scientists have conducted research over the years attempting to quantify how effective some of those remedies are, how frequently they should be used and what formulations work best. But the studies are often small or don’t show much efficacy. Still, experts acknowledge that there isn’t any harm in adopting practices that may make you feel better when you’re sick, even if they just end up providing a placebo effect. (You should see a medical professional if your symptoms are severe)
Vitamin C, elderberry and zinc
There is some evidence to suggest that certain vitamins and ingredients in home remedies — like vitamin C, elderberry and zinc — can, at the very least, stimulate the immune system and slightly shorten the duration of your symptoms. The idea that vitamin C can help with a cold isn’t new; it was popularised by the Nobel laureate Linus Pauling in the 1970s, which set off a surge in demand for the nutrient. Since then, scientists tied to the supplements industry have suggested that vitamin C helps support various functions, such as immune cells’ ability to find and fight off infection.
The nutrient’s effectiveness is still debated. For one, the body is not able to store high doses of vitamin C, like those found in supplements, and any excess vitamin C is usually excreted in your urine. Some clinical trials have found that the timing of when you take vitamin C supplements might be crucial to its effectiveness: a comprehensive meta-analysis of vitamin C trials published in 2013, for example, suggests that regular supplementation, even before you start to feel sick, can shorten the duration of colds by a day or so. But taking vitamin C after you’ve already developed symptoms does not show consistent benefits.
Similarly, research on zinc suggests that taking syrups and lozenges containing the trace element every three to four hours may reduce the length of a cold or flu by a day or two, potentially by preventing viruses from multiplying. Other analyses have concluded that there is not enough evidence to say it is any better than a placebo.
Teas, soup, ginger and turmeric
A sore throat is often the natural result of inflammation created when your immune system is fighting off a virus lodged in your upper airways. The swelling and pain can make it more difficult to swallow food and stay hydrated. This ends up making your throat even drier. A cough can further worsen things. Staying hydrated by drinking plain water, hot teas, broths or soups can help you feel more comfortable.
In many cultures, ginger is one of the first things people reach for when faced with a sore throat. It’s often steeped in boiling water along with other herbs to make soothing teas, or added to chicken soup. And, it turns out, there may be some science to back up these age-old practices: a handful of studies have found that ginger may have anti-inflammatory properties that can help ease swelling.
Turmeric root, a plant in the ginger family that is native to Southeast Asia and long used in the Ayurvedic medical practices of India, can also reduce inflammation. But its effects have been challenging to prove because the main compound in the root, curcumin, isn’t easily absorbed in the body and curcumin supplements can vastly differ in composition. Eating turmeric in food or mixing it with a fatty substance, such as cooking oil or warm milk, may help you absorb more of the benefits of curcumin. Adding black pepper can also aid in its absorption, Dr. Romm said.
“Ginger and turmeric together is a really, really nice combination,” Dr. Romm said, adding that when she’s dealing with a sore throat, she brews herself ginger-turmeric tea.
Salt water and honey
If your sore throat is compounded by a cough, gargling with salt water may be helpful. Mix about half a teaspoon of salt in a full glass of warm water and swish it around your mouth and the back of your throat for a few seconds before spitting it out. Any type of salt you have at home can work.
Doctors often recommend salt water gargling as a way to ease pain in your mouth or the back of your throat and improve overall oral health. Gargling helps loosen thick mucus and can also remove irritants like bacteria, viruses and allergens from your throat. Using a salt solution provides the additional benefit of drawing excess fluid from inflamed tissues and coating them with warm water instead, Dr. Talbot said.
Adding honey to your gargling solution, or to any tea or warm drink, can have a similarly soothing effect. Honey acts as a demulcent, meaning it calms down irritated tissues by coating them.
Many cultures have their own variation of a soothing honey drink. And some research shows the remedy works in reducing the frequency of coughs. In fact, one study of children between 1 and 5 found that taking two teaspoons of honey at bedtime was just as effective in reducing night time coughs and improving the quality of sleep as the drug dextromethorphan found in common over-the-counter cough syrups. (Honey should not be given to children younger than a year old, though, because of the risk of a rare type of food poisoning known as infant botulism.)
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