Author’s Note (2013/12/6): A commenter noted I was off by 10 in my extremely conservative upper limit on the mass of zinc present in a lozenge. However, that estimate was so conservative as to be ludicrous – it’s not based on homeopathy, which Zicam claims to use to prepare their lozenges. My more detailed calculation is more consistent with homeopathic dilution principles, and consistent with an independent computation, so nothing substantive changes in the math.
Homeopathy is sham medicine. Its techniques involve extreme dilution, so extreme that (according to all the established laws of mathematics, chemistry, and physics) there is often not a single molecule of the active ingredient left in the preparation. Homeopathic peddlers charge exorbitant prices for sugar pills and make almost a billion dollars a year from their efforts.
You may think that you have not, in fact, ever fallen for the homeopathic scam. Ever taken Zicam? Oops. You have fallen for it. Here’s why.
The claim that the producers of zinc-based cold remedies make is that zinc has been shown to shorten the duration of a cold, and by ingesting zinc in the early stages of a cold you do yourself some good. A review of zinc as a cold preventative or cold duration reduction strategy suggests there is merit to the claim. However, zinc has a flip-side. It can be dangerous in various ways to the body in significant doses [2], depending on how it is administered (e.g. nasally, orally), so it is possible to do a lot more harm than good.
But what of Zicam? Is it a legit means to introduce zinc into your system at the first sign of cold symptoms? Zicam says, right on the label, that they are a homeopathic preparation. Let’s consider the ingredients. Zicam claims to contain two forms of zinc (that sound like something out of “Life of Brian” – I have a gweat fwend in Wome!): Zincum Aceticum and Zincum Gluconicum. Anyone who has read an ingredient listed in the HPUS (the homeopathic ingredient formulary) will recognize the use of Latin-like wording.
However, a quick look at the AMOUNT of Zinc listed in each pill or strip reveals something strange – the dosage is not listed in milligrams (mg), as is common in actual medical preparations (so you can know the dose!), but instead in the homeopathic dilution scale: 1x and 2x. That means, for instance, that for every 1 part of zincum aceticum used in the preparation of, say, a lozenge, 10 parts of water are used as a diluting agent. Typically, then an eyedropper is used to extract a small sample from the dilution and that is then dripped into solution with the inactive ingredients, which then make up most of the pill/strip weight by mass.
In order to know exactly the dose of zinc, you have to know exactly the amount of material (in grams) against which it was diluted. We can’t know that from the label . . . or their website.
So can we estimate the amount of actual _zinc_ in each pill, lozenge, or strip? That’s nearly impossible to do, given the information they provide. But we can estimate. I weighed a Halls lozenge and found it to be about 4 grams (4g). Let’s assume a typical lozenge is about 5g of total mass. If we assume that the homeopathic dilution was done with the zinc against all the other ingredients, we can infer an upper limit on the amount of zinc in this lozenge. Since the zincum aceticum is 1x diluted, that means its mass is about 1/10th of the total mass of the lozenge, or about 500mg. The zincum gluconicum is about 1/100th of the total mass of the lozenge (2x), or about 50mg. That’s an upper limit, and given knowledge of the process of homeopathic dilution the above scenario is NOT how such a lozenge is actually made. Rather, an eye-dropper drop’s worth of a dilution of zinc and water is mixed onto each lozenge, or into the lozenge ingredients during preparation. Let’s analyze that more homeopathically consistent scenario.
According to pharmaceutical standards, a single “drop” is about 0.05mL [3]. Most of the mass of that drop will be water, not zinc, due to dilution; we can then safely estimate the mass of a drop of water to be about the mass of the water + zinc dilution. 0.05mL of water weighs 0.05g (water has a density of 1 g/mL at room temperature). Therefore, the zinc accounts for about 1/10th of that, maximum, per lozenge . . . or about 5mg per lozenge, maximum (0.5mg of the zincum gluconicum). I suspect that this is still an upper limit; the makers of Zicam say nothing about their manufacturing process, so for all we know they drip one drop into a big batch of inactive ingredients and stamp out 100 lozenges (or more) from that batch!
So, each lozenge of Zicam contains something like 5mg of zincum aceticum and 0.5mg of zincum gluconicum.
For comparison, your recommended daily allowance of zinc is about 15 mg. Non-homeopathic zinc preparations (lozenges) contains at least 100% of your daily dose of zinc in a single lozenge, and often more like 133% or 150%. This preparation is, at the very least, woefully lower than competing products.
To check my calculation, I searched on Google and found an LA Times post about this very issue. Quoting from the post:
Zicam RapidMelts, perhaps the most widely available homeopathic cold remedy, is sold at practically every drug store. According to the label, the single active ingredient, zincum gluconicum, has a 1X dilution. This means that one part of zincum gluconicum (a zinc compound) was diluted in 10 parts water before it was added to the lozenge. The label doesn’t say how much zinc is in the product, but a customer service representative reached by phone said each lozenge contains 10 mg. of zinc, a little less than you’d get from a typical multivitamin. [4]
But it gets worse.The zinc content of common foods is well-assessed [5]. You can easily get your daily allowance of zinc, or more than your daily allowance, simply by eating things you probably already eat: 3 ounces of beef will give you about 50% of your daily allowance; fortified, ready-to-eat cereals give you about 25% of your daily allowance – just have a bunch of cereal!; 8 ounces of yogurt will give you about the same!
So, should you spend money on zinc? Maybe. There is credible evidence that it can help alleviate a cold, but at the same time it has side effects (upset stomach, dry mouth, and even damage to smell if taken nasally) that can be as unpleasant as sneezing and coughing . . . if not more permanent than sneezing and coughing. You should talk to your doctor and see what they recommend.
What of Zicam? Don’t waste your money. They don’t tell you how much actual zinc is in the preparation, unlike the USDA (regarding food and nutrients) or even products sold at places like GNC (that list the dose in mg, as it should be listed). You need to study homeopathy and have good math and science skills just to estimate the amount, and that’s just an estimate. I consider my estimate of the maximum amount of zinc to be based on realistic assumptions, so you should expect that one dose of Zicam (e.g. a lozenge) has no more than the zinc you’re getting already from dairy, cereals, or meat. It certainly doesn’t provide anything close to your recommended daily allowance.
Based on this assessment, if you spend money on Zicam you’re throwing away money – just eat a bowl of fortified cereal or a bowl of yogurt.
Final Note – Price
Since sham medicine is fundamentally about you being scammed out of your money, here is the financial angle on this issue. A box of Zicam lozenges (25 per box) at Walgreens costs $10.99. A box of 48 non-homeopathic zinc lozenges containing 20mg of zinc per lozenge costs $11.99 at GNC. If we use the 10mg zinc/lozenge figure obtained by the writer for the LA Times Skeptical Medicine blog, then we can compute the price per mg of zinc in these two products:
- Zicam is charging you 4.3 cents per mg of zinc
- GNC is charging you 1.3 cents per mg of zinc
Zicam is making you pay 3.5 times MORE for the active ingredient than GNC. Now . . . go vote with your wallet.
Last update to this blog post: 8/27/16
Many of the comments of late have been anecdotal claims that Zicam “works for me”. The plural of “anecdote” is not “data,” and these comments are unscientific testimonials that I won’t any longer allow to be placed here. I’m ending comments on this blog post because, after 3 years, everything useful that could have been said has been said.
[2] http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/fda-zicam-warning/
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_%28unit%29
[4] http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/06/health/la-he-skeptic-cold-remedies-20101206
21 thoughts on “Fake Medicine: Zicam”
Zicam works…. I use it and it really does work. It may not work for everyone, but it does for me,and most likely many other people to.
Since this about the scientific assessment of a product claimed to be medicine, let’s focus on the scientific assessment itself:
1) Studies of zinc have shown it might shorten a cold by a about a day
2) Zicam has less zinc than both zinc supplements (that cost _less money_) and leafy green vegetables and meat (which you probably eat anyway). So the company that makes Zicam is deceiving you into paying more per unit zinc atom. At the very least, if you’re going to take zinc for a cold, don’t pay more money.
3) Your comment is a testimonial, a form of anecdote, and contains no scientific content. How do you know that it works? Have you had a friend study the duration of your cold symptoms with and without zinc-based treatment? This is what the scientific research has done, and it suggests a modest effect, at best, probably not worth the money. And then there is the placebo effect: because you believe zinc should work, that can affect how fast you get better. Did you control for the placebo effect by having a friend give you identical-looking sugar pills sometimes and Zicam at other times, telling you at all times it was Zicam?
It’s your decision, ultimately. But the science tells me that the risks (paying a lot more money for zinc and doing potential damage to the soft tissues in my nose and throat) outweigh the benefits (having a 7-14 day cold shortened by 1.5 of a day). As a scientist who teaches students to assess these things for themselves, please understand that I follow reliable scientific evidence on these things, not testimonials or anecdotes.
I have also had success taking the product to prevent a cold or flu when other members of the household were sick. Perhaps there is something to how it is administered? Even though it is a small amount of zinc you take it continually throughout the day every 3 hours, which could potentially be more effective than one large dose.
Hi Chris,
First of all, let me say that you should ALWAYS talk to a real medical doctor before engaging in unprescribed medical treatments, to make sure that they won’t interact with any other medical interventions you are already having or exacerbate any preexisting conditions. Always consult a medical doctor, and make sure you read peer-reviewed medical journal articles about claimed treatments before embarking on them. You always need to know the risks vs. the rewards.
I have no doubt that there is a fraction of the population that responds favorably to taking products that claim to be medicine, and feel better. However, this is a well-documented medical phenomenon – the placebo effect – which is unreliable from case-to-case and person-to-person, which is why the medical community doesn’t prescribe placebo as a treatment – it’s unethical, and deceptive.
Companies like those that make Zicam are playing on the claim that “taking zinc shortens the duration of a cold,” which is true claim (the effect is small, and the medical risks associated with zinc are nonzero – e.g. loss of sense of smell – compared to the small benefit of shortening a cold by about a day out of 7-14). However, all that the research finds is that the dose is what matters, because the idea is that some forms of zinc can bind to receptors on the rhinovirus and inhibit their behavior. All one needs to do is get zinc to the virus; how you do it is not so relevant.
Eating meat, cereal, or yogurt is sufficient, and cheaper per dose (since you eat anyway)! Taking a real zinc supplement with a well-defined dose is fine, but beware of the secondary damage you can do to your body by overdosing on zinc. The effects are known better now, and they’re not great.
However, Zicam doesn’t use a reliable dose scale (they don’t report the amount of zinc in milligrams – they only report the number of dilutions of an unknown amount of zinc, which I and others have estimated results in a much smaller and far more expensive dose of zinc than you would get from foods you probably already eat).
If you use Zicam, you are paying more for less zinc. That’s called a “rip-off.” The company that makes Zicam is cheating you. Don’t let them. Also, beware of the placebo effect. While a real dose of zinc, found in real medical zinc lozenges or normal foods, can help, the beneficial effect is small compared to placebo (doing nothing at all) in actual studies across a population. You have to ask: are you spending your limited financial resources wisely when you buy Zicam? The answer is no. Spend that money on real lozenges (which will give you about 133% of your daily recommended allowance of zinc), if you really believe shortening a 7-14 day cold by 1 day or less is helpful, or just eat your zinc-rich foods:
“3 ounces of beef will give you about 50% of your daily allowance [of zinc]; fortified, ready-to-eat cereals give you about 25% of your daily allowance – just have a bunch of cereal!; 8 ounces of yogurt will give you about the same.”
Sincerely,
Steve
Hi Steve,
Can you clarify the math.
Using the assumption that the total mass of a lozenge is 5g:
5g = 5000mg
If the zinc acetate is 1x diluted, wouldn’t it be 500mg vs 50mg? [5000mg X (1/10) = 500mg]
And zinc gluconate at 2x = 5000mg X (1/100) = 50mg.
Am I missing something or were you struck by the evil of the decimal? 😉
Indeed, I was off by 10 in my extremely conservative upper limit on the mass of zinc present in a lozenge. However, that estimate was already so conservative as to be ludicrous – it’s not even based on homeopathy, which Zicam claims to use to prepare their lozenges. My more detailed calculation (which ends with a drop of dilution being added somehow to the lozenge preparation) is vastly more consistent with homeopathic dilution principles, and consistent with an independent computation from a different investigation, so nothing substantive changes in the applicable math.
Hi Steve,
I agree broadly with the criticism of Zicam’s business practices, but a couple of issues: first, zinc cold remedies are marketed as homeopathic to avoid the expense of clinical trials. While this is skeezy and certainly exploits a legal loophole that should not exist, it doesn’t mean anything about the efficacy of the lozenges. Unlike typical homeopathic “remedies” which are so dilute as to have no trace of the supposed active ingredient, zinc lozenges have appreciable amounts of zinc. I base this on Cold-Eez, which says on their website that each lozenge has 15 mg of zinc. Since it is a directly competing product, I would bet this is a good estimate for the content of Zicam lozenges.
Second, while the reason why zinc is effective against the common cold is not firmly established, the best guess is that it inhibits viral replication. In other words, it isn’t dietary zinc that matters: its the concentration of zinc ions in the mouth and throat. Zinc lozenges are designed to coat the tissues where viruses replicate (probably why they produce a lingering, unpleasant fuzziness in the mouth). Unless you are gargling your bowls of yogurt for fifteen minutes, comparing the zinc content between that and a lozenge is pointless.
Lastly, the duration of colds is shortened by one day if you naively average all trials. If, however, you separate by zinc form and dosage, you find that trials are split by a critical threshold (75 mg per day): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136969/
Above that, you get substantial benefits, up to almost a 50% reduction in cold duration which, frankly, is pretty darn good. Below that, nothing. This is why Cold-Eez is dosed to give 80 mg per day, and why I would bet Zicam is as well.
So while I agree that it’s fair to criticize Zicam for not making their zinc content publicly available, and also for making it ridiculously expensive, and most of all for marketing what is in essence medicine without actually undertaking clinical trials, I think the implication of the post- that Zicam or other “homeopathic” zinc remedies are useless – is mistaken.
I too am perplexed that you do not mention the effect of the zinc being distributed throughout the mouth, back of mouth and throat by slow dissolution of the lozenge. I wish you would address the effect of the zinc applied directly to the sites where the virus apparently propagates itself in as felt in back of throat irritations. It seems the lozenge fairly quickly diminishes these very uncomfortable effects of the cold virus. No amount of zinc in food seems to apply itself to these sites around the mouth and nasal areas as does a lozenge of Zicam.
I think you missed the point. The point is not that zinc can or cannot shorten the duration of a cold. That is somewhat established. The point is that Zicam uses the homeopathic labeling system, meaning it’s nearly impossible to accurately determine how much zinc they are selling you. On the other hand, a scientifically labeled product (like a zinc lozenge sold by a different company, utilizing the “milligram” dose measurement to tell you the mass of zinc provided) allows you to immediately determine the dosage. Estimates of the zinc content in a Zicam lozenge suggests they could be significantly overcharging for zinc compared to non-homeopathic lozenge makers. That’s it. Homeopathy prevents you from knowing accurately the dose because it has no absolute reference system for measurement.
Josh pointed out the 2011 meta-analysis of zinc/cold studies, which suggested that previous data had not looked at threshold effects (the minimum amount of zinc needed to confer a benefit). This study is here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136969/. Another meta-analysis a year later sought to improve on this and other such efforts (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3394849/). That study employed better criteria for assessing bias in previous studies (ala the methods of the Cochrane Group). They found foremost that to really resolve the exact duration of the effect, larger and better-designed trials are needed. The picture from the aggregation and weighting of previous trials suggested a few things. First, negative side-effects from zinc intake were more significant than previously reported, and the author suggest that such effects need to be weighed against the comparatively minor symptom set of most rhinovirus infections but also the significant loss of productivity induced by the rhinovirus. Second, compared to placebo the average reduction in cold symptoms was about 2.6 days in adults, but with a large heterogeneity. At 95% confidence level, the true value of the reduction in symptoms and duration lies somewhere between 3.7 and 1.6 days. This is why they make the plea, which I think is the most useful point they can make, that a large-scale, well-designed and controlled, trial is really the best bet to sort this out.
However, none of the above has anything to do with homeopathy, which is inherently a deceptive practice that hides the true dose of an active ingredient from the cold sufferer. Zicam is less annoying than most homeopaths; at least their level of dilution COULD result in actually measurable amounts of zinc in their lozenges, depending on the mass of zinc present in the so-called “mother tincture” (the original preparation). However, traditional homeopaths follow the Hahnemann recommendation of diluting to “30C” . . . which means that there is not 1 atom of the original active ingredient present anywhere in the resulting product.
Steve: Thank you for your clear reasoning and deductive work. After reading your post, I thought I’d drop an email to the Zicam folks to see if they’d respond. Here’s what they had to say. Don’t know why they don’t put it on the package to begin with. Can’t tell if it works. I suspect placebo effect accounts for any efficacy. – Bob
“Thank you for contacting us about Zicam®. The following actives are in our RapidMelt products:
Zicam Ultra Cold Remedy RapidMelts-cherry and orange cream NDC’s 62750-039-10, 62750-051-10, 62750-055-10, 62750-040-10, 62750-052-10 & 62750-056-10: Each dose (1 tablet) provides 14.5 mg of Ionized zinc.
Zicam Cold Remedy RapidMelts-cherry, citrus, echinacea NDC’s 62750-033-11, 62750-054-10, 62750-034-11, 62750-044-10, 62750-035-10, 62750-043-10: Each dose (1 tablet) provides 11.0 mg of Ionized zinc.
Zicam Cold Remedy RapidMelts-cool mint NDC’s 62750-030-10, 62750-053-10, & 62750-057-10: Each dose (1 tablet) provides 10.8 mg of Ionized zinc.
So that one of our health care practitioners or Customer Service Representatives may best address any other questions or concerns about Zicam®, please contact us between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM, M-F Central Standard Time. Our toll-free phone number is 877-942-2626.
Best regards,
Meghan – Zicam® Customer Relations Representative”
So Steve, you are telling us not to use a product that works VERY well, just because you don’t think the label is clear enough about how LITTLE is in the product. Seems to me that as long as it works (which it clearly does), the less the better.
Dear Lynn,
Do not mischaracterize my point. My point is that companies use concepts like “homeopathy” to avoid having to abide by the rules that actual medicines have to follow. They can then provide a product that contains no accurate content information, sell it for a lot of money, and scam the consumer. I am grateful to Bob for his ability to actually get information from the company about the mass content of zinc in their products. Why not simply put this on the label, like actual zinc supplements do? You should vote with your dollar by spending money on products that are properly labeled and follow sound scientific procedures for informing consumers of their content. Go ahead and buy zinc supplements if you want to shorten your cold by a day or two, while risking damage to your soft tissues in the throat and mouth and upset of your stomach. But spend your money wisely.
Sincerely,
Steve
Steve,
I used to stay sick during the winter. My sinuses went crazy. I have only had one cold I about eight years. Every time my throat starts to feel scratchy, I take Zicam. Colds never really develop now. I act immediately and they go away before they really even start. I use the Rapid Melts. I also use another product in sure you love, Airborne. If I visit a hospital or go anywhere near kids, I take one before hand and two, within eight hours afterwards. My husband an I once visited with relatives from out of town. A young child in the group had the flu. We followed our Airborne protocol. There were nine of us. Everyone got horribly sick except us. We also washed our hands a lot and changed clothes.
So that’s my no-cold routine and I just don’t get sick anymore. I never take flu shots either.
Dear Sylvia,
Thanks for your comment. I am pleased that you have had a positive response to the presence of zinc in the product, even though the company fails to list the actual content of zinc (they only list the degree by which the original, unknown amount of zinc was diluted with water or alcohol). Zinc has been shown in the most reliable trials to have a small, positive benefit on cold duration.
However, your mention of Airborne is scientifically troubling. Its claims are supported by no actual research, and, in fact, once assessment was conducted of its claims (“The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics, Issue 1199”. On the effects of Airborne. The Medical Letter.) these were found to be unsupported by actual product testing. The parent company was fined by the FTC for deceptive advertising – a poor marker of their integrity. Airborne is, quite simply, fake medicine. The fact that you experience positive benefits from it can be understood as part of a class of wider issues in self-diagnosis: you cannot control for all the variables present when you claim to have prevented a cold. It’s possible that your immune system, as it is capable of doing, simply wiped out the infection before it became widespread; it’s possible that you are studious with handwashing and avoid touching your eyes and nose, the most common way of transmitting the cold virus from a foreign surface to your body; it’s possible you also are benefiting from the unpredictable and uncontrollable placebo effect, a fascinating medical event that deserves more study and research investment to actually understand.
Since Airborne is not actually medicinal, there are many other reasons you might have remained healthy. For instance, over the winter break I avoided picking up a nasty norovirus despite being around 3 people who all suffered from it. I was studious with handwashing. I ate no food that was anywhere near where the sick had been resting, nor was potentially in any contact with their bodily fluids. I thoroughly cleaned the sink and toilet with bleach. It takes as few as 12 noroviruses to become sick with the infection; yet I managed to avoid it entirely. Was it the handwashing? Was it the food protocol? Was it the bleach? Was it my immune system? I don’t know, and as a good scientist I won’t claim to know. Those are all plausible explanations, but I can’t make claims that it was any one of these. I certainly wouldn’t attribute my success in dodging a terrible virus to some inert substance I ingested.
So the fact that you believe you respond to a fake medicine suggests that you are falling prey to the “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” reasoning fallacy, which is precisely how companies like those who make “Airborne” get your money away from you. Watch out for this fallacy. Believing that “after this, therefore because of this” can trick you into spending you precious resources on the wrong answer. Rather, look to your other habits – cleaning, hand washing, handling protocols, or a good natural immune response – for the cause of your good health, and focus on those.
As for not taking flu shots, all I can say is that you are likely benefiting from the fact that people around you are getting them and thus protecting you from a terrible virus. I have had a flu shot every year for about 7 years. I got a mild case of flu-like symptoms last year – fever, body aches, etc. – despite having a flu shot. Does that disprove the efficacy of the flu shot? Absolutely not. My infection may have been one uncovered by the shot cocktail at the time. Or, it might have been that I had a strain that was covered and in fact I only had a very mild reaction to infection because my immune system was primed to fight it (symptoms only lasted about 3 days…. mild for the flu). Or, maybe it was just a bad cold and the fever was due to some secondary infection. As a single individual without limitless diagnostic technology, I can’t know what the reason was. Despite not knowing, and despite “feeling” like I had a flu, I never waivered in my decision to get a flu vaccine the next year. The data from countless studies shows that flu shots are statistically better than no flu shot, so I get it because it just makes medical and scientific sense. I help protect the community by protecting myself. It’s a medical win-win.
My advice: always talk to your Medical Doctor about any choices you make to self-medicate, and see what they recommend. The science literature suggests that you can go ahead and take zinc, but as a scientist I recommend you pick a brand that prints the milligrams on the box and talk to your doctor about dosing; watch out for Airborne, because it’s snake oil, and instead focus on what cleanliness and contact-prevention techniques you take with sick people around you; you are free to not get a flu vaccine, but make sure you do it for a sound, scientific reason.
Sincerely,
Steve Sekula
“Don’t waste your money.”
What horrible advice. Zicam (and Cold Eeze) work — And work well. They shorten my colds by a little bit (a few days), but the biggest benefit is that the cold symptoms (sore throat, congestion, etc.) throughout the cold are about one quarter as severe as they are when I don’t take Zicam/ColdEeze.
Before I started using Zicam, I used to always lose my taste buds during my colds. I haven’t lost my taste buds in 5-7+ years now since I’ve started using Zicam.
There is such a MASSIVE difference (improvement) between not using Zicam and using Zicam. I don’t know if any of your readers actually follow your advice (I just stumbled upon your blog post when googling for the number of mgs of Zinc in Zicam), but just in case they do, you really should edit your post to remove your advice to not “waste your money” — Because that is such awful awful advice. There’s no other way to put it.
By people not using Zicam or Cold-Eeze, we all lose because the longer people have the cold virus, the more they spread the cold virus.
Dear Brandon,
Thanks for posting your comment. Let me respond to your concerns.
First of all, you missed the updated version of this article, based on more information (including information from other commenters) … but, not to bury the lede: the conclusion is still the same, if only refined with more assessment.
http://steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/2015/02/08/zicam-revisited/
Let me then address directly your comments:
In my updated post on the subject, my conclusions are much clearer:
So if you want zinc, including in a lozenge, there are really great ways to get it without overspending. Zicam is leveraging pseudoscience to overcharge you for the same chemical element.
Do what you want. The good news is, you can make your own choices. You don’t have to listen to some scientist with a blog. However, I hope that you think more about your choices and weigh the costs when you spend money on Zicam. You are free to do what you want, but do it with some critical thinking.
Regarding your last point – that shortening the duration of a cold helps reduce transmission – I think that you have greatly oversimplified the problem and misunderstood the wide behavior of any of the 200 viruses that cause “cold”. For instance, you are MOST likely to spread the virus within 2-4 days of initial CONTACT with the virus, not when symptoms arise (c.f. this Q&A about spreading the cold). Since symptoms can take 24-72 hours to manifest, and since zinc has been shown to take about 1 day off a cold (which can last 7-14 days), in fact you are likely NOT reducing the risk of transmission. Your best bet is to wash your hands frequently, as a general rule of living, so that if you make contact with a person while you might be contagious you don’t spread any latent bodily fluids to them. So, in fact, hand washing is probably the best strategy to avoid transmission – not taking a zinc lozenge that takes 1 day off the end of the symptom period.
Sincerely,
Steve
I am enraged that homeopathic products appear on shelves, period. They mislead and confuse and waste money. Effective products that exist need to all follow the same testing and labeling standards. I am wondering what you think of the claims here:
http://coldcure.com/html/zinc-lozenges.html
They suggest that low doses of zinc can lengthen a cold duration. Also they claim that the presence of citric acid as an added ingredient converts the zinc into an ineffective salt form. This is exceedingly frustrating. And people just keep buying it and swearing it works for them. After several days. As if taking nothing wouldn’t have produced the same result…
Since that article is web published only, and not peer-reviewed and published in a journal, I wouldn’t pay it much mind. It’s enough to focus on the fact that (a) homeopathy is proven nonsense, (b) medicine should be sold _as medicine_ and not as a supplement, to avoid testing requirements, and (c) anecdotal evidence is no evidence at all. I share your frustration!
Regards,
Steve
This article makes sense. I took Zicam melts for 6 days and 2 1/2 weeks later I still be fighting side effects. 1. sore mouth, 2. try and burning throat, swelling in face, watery diarrhea and then the worst my thyroid swelled. Now I am seeing a doctor blood work ultrasound waiting for the results and stressed, scared etc. It isn’t a pleasure having a swollen neck. Never Zicam again. The cold would be gone by now, now living with serious side effects.
I am very sorry to hear about your health. Consulting with your physician when something goes wrong after ingesting a substance was a smart move.
Stepping back for a moment, and putting on my “pure scientist” hat, in the spirit of the original article I have to say it’s also not scientific to assume that “I took A, and B happened; B was caused by A.” This is, of course, the same logic people use to argue Zicam helps their cold by a lot when the evidence suggests it might only help a little, at best. They took Zicam, they felt better – what more evidence does one need? Of course, health and the scientific method applied to health is a lot messier than that. All that matters for you is that you sought medical advice.
Now, taking off that scientist hat for a moment (there, that’s better)… I don’t like anyone to have to suffer consequences from a disease or something that claims to cure the disease. My heart goes out to all cold suffers (I had four of them in the past 7 months, a real record for me since childhood) and of course to you for suffering these nasty effects. Let’s just all agree that we won’t waste our money on Zicam, for any reason.