How to boost your child’s immune system the right way

If you’re like most parents, you want your kids to be healthy. And if your kids are like most kids, that isn’t always the case. The most frequent illness of childhood is the common cold, and children — especially those in daycare — can get several of these infections per year. While cold viruses rarely result in significant complications, they certainly cause their share of discomfort, lost sleep, and time away from work and school. Because illnesses like the common cold are so common, there’s no shortage of people looking for ways to prevent them — or of Internet sites offering “natural” ways to boost your immune system (often by clicking the link at the top of the page to purchase a variety of supplements). Over the years, there have been a variety of “immune-boosting” supplements that have been marketed as nothing short of miraculous. But when we look for evidence to support these claims, they break down quickly. Large doses of vitamin C have been promoted for this purpose for years, but well-designed trials don’t show any benefit. Vitamin D doesn’t seem to do much, either. Echinacea doesn’t help. There was one very small trial that showed a possible benefit from garlic, but didn’t provide enough data to say for sure. Oscillococcinum doesn’t do anything (but you shouldn’t expect it to, because homeopathy doesn’t make sense). Zinc might help to shorten the duration of cold symptoms by a day or so, but it doesn’t pr...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Conditions Pediatrics Source Type: blogs