Boost your immune system: supplements, herbs, vitamins to treat colds–and the evidence behind them
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.
Many people use nutritional supplements, herbs, vitamins to try to boost immunity and ward off colds. It is only natural (pun intended) since we don’t have a cure for the annoying and frequent set of viruses that cause colds.
A few days back, I wrote about some general tried and true methods to increase your immunity that have good studies to back them up and don’t cost money. They should be your base for protection. Only implement other methods after you have put the base in place.
Good, reliable studies of herbs, vitamins and supplements that prove efficacy and safety are harder to find. Although many people swear by their home remedy, the mainstream medical world has not taken these seriously, in the past. We are now trying to catch up but have a long way to go.
The reason I reneged on my promise to post this information, on boosting your immune system with herbs, supplements and vitamins on yesterday, was I wanted to wait on access to the information at www.naturalstandard.com, where they utilize a group of medical experts and scientists to review all of the reliable data we have on alternative medicines. Their mission is ”to provide objective, reliable information that aids clinicians, patients, and healthcare institutions to make more informed and safer therapeutic decisions.”
Here is what they say about specific supplements, herbs and vitamins fighting the common cold.











