SUGAR-COATED SCIENCE

Are immune gummies just snake oil?

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1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient

2. Concise Conclusion: a straightforward, patient-friendly answer 

3. Quick Wrap-up 

Clearly, there are nuances that may not be captured in this format. The goal here is to provide you with helpful counselling tips which often draw from multiple sources or those which are not commonly accessed by busy healthcare providers serving the community.

Counselling Conundrum: "I just brought my 12 year old to the clinic, and apparently it's just a cold or flu and we have to wait it out. Are those immune gummies any good?"

Concise Conclusion: First, there is no cure for a cold or flu, and rest and hydration should be the focus (unless things worsen). That being said, here are a few things that do have some research behind it:

-Vitamin C: may reduce severity and duration of a cold when taken regularly (before the illness)

-Zinc: may slightly reduce cold duration

-Elderberry: some evidence show it may reduce flu severity

The research is not strong, but if cost is not an issue for you, it's not unreasonable to give an "immune gummy" with these ingredients a try. Keep in mind there are possible side effects, such as diarrhea with Vitamin C and altered taste with Zinc.

Quick Wrap-up: We know that in a setting such as acute bronchitis, giving symptom control medications (such as cough syrups or patient education) can help prevent inappropriate antibiotic use. This means even if the benefit of these products is minimal in the setting of cough/flu, preventing antibiotic misuse is likely worth it (though we typically avoid cough syrups due to poor data and risks associated with cumulative acetaminophen doses).

Dive Deeper

1) Reducing antibiotic use for acute bronchitis in primary care: blinded, randomised controlled trial of patient information leaflet - PubMed

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