Then I saw this page called Cold Hard Facts which initially didn't attract me but after reading up the content I was convinced.
People think Echinacea, ginger, garlic, Vitamin C, zinc can treat colds. However, recent research reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that Vitamin C and Echinacea don't help prevent or cure cold.
So, why most people still claim that Vitamin C can help ease cold?
Dr. Bruce Barrett explained that normally research studies are done on 3 conditions: treated, placebo and non-treated. Placebo means a substance having no pharmacological effect but given merely to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine. Dr Barrett said that patients treated by medicine were only slightly better than patients being treated by placebo treatments. But, patients treated by placebo healed much better than non-treated patients.
So, regardless of how ineffective these Echinacea and Vitamin C are, as long as you believe strongly that these things can heal your cold, they can. It's the mind-body relief mechanism which is still unknown to us.
No wonder I'm still unwell. I don't believe much in all the remedies taken: Vitamin C, Strepsils, Fisherman's Friend, 川贝枇杷膏(Fritillaria Loquat Syrup) and 咳必止 (another type of herbal remedy). They just don't work.
Maybe I should start fooling myself to believe they are effective. Then only the placebo effect can take place and my cough can ease. lol
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