ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150089
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
Cold sufferers who took zinc lozenges got over their symptoms about three days sooner, a study found.
At least seven previous studies of zinc and colds yielded conflicting results.
The latest study looked at lemon-flavored zinc gluconate lozenges, marketed by Quigley Corp. of Doylestown under the brand name COLD-EEZE.
The participants - 100 employees of the Cleveland Clinic - were given either 13.3-milligram zinc lozenges or dummy lozenges. They started using the lozenges within 24 hours after symptoms appeared and took them every two hours while awake.
The median time for all symptoms to disappear was 7.6 days in the placebo group and 4.4 days in the zinc group.
The zinc group had significantly fewer days with coughing, headaches, hoarseness, nasal congestion, nasal drainage and sore throat. The two groups did not differ substantially in getting over muscle aches, sneezing or fever.
But cold sufferers who tested the lozenges also had more side effects, such as nausea, mouth irritation and a bad taste, according to the study, to be published in Monday's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The researchers said they did not investigate whether zinc had any effect on the virus or how it may have reduced the symptoms.
And Dr. Michael L. Macknin, a pediatrician at the Cleveland Clinic and chief researcher in the study, cautioned that it looked only at COLD-EEZE. ``I wouldn't encourage people to run out and buy any health food preparation of zinc,'' he said.
Quigley, which supplied the zinc lozenges and the placebos, markets COLD-EEZE over the QVC shopping network and hopes to put the lozenges in major drug store chains this year.
Macknin also warned against taking zinc as a preventative, saying no that studies have investigated whether the mineral prevents colds.
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