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 mg 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 researchers said. 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, published in the July 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.