Coughing? Drink water The good news from a study of children's cough medicine by Penn State
Children's Hospital in Hershey, Pa, was that all remedies tested
actually worked. The bad news, from the phramacies' point of view at
least, was that the "placebo", flavoured water, worked the best.
To conduct the study, researchers recruited 100 children with
upper-respiratory-tract infections who had been coughing for an average
of more than three days.
The children were given one of three treatments 30 minutes before
bedtime: a cough syrup containing dextromethorphan, a cough syrup
containing diphenhydramine or a placebo syrup.
Children in all three groups showed a dramatic reduction in cough
frequency, but those taking the placebo -- essentially flavored water
-- had the best results. On four other measures, the three treatments
had virtually identical outcomes.
Save money, drink water. It goes over.
11:32:40 PM 
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