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More cold supplement woo?

Zygar

Master Poster
Z
Joined
Oct 3, 2006
Messages
2,606
According to the ColdMD website (and commercial I saw a few minutes ago) ColdMD:
  • Increases immune system resistance by 312 percent
  • Helps you recover 94 percent faster
  • Has clinically proven results
Is this stuff for real?
 
My guess is: no.

From the bottom of the FAQ:

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Click to expand...
 
I saw this commercial and the cynic in me called BS immediately. It had all the signs: Actors playing doctors, huge percentages, lack of meaningful information, small print that was unreadable, and that particular 'look' that these commercial have. When a flakey sounding supplement ad tells me it's available at Walmart and GNC (not from my doctor?!), It practically seals the deal for me. Honestly, that's not very good skepticsm on my part, but I'm still pretty confident it's bunk. I'll check out the site like I promised myself I would.
 
My thought is that any company that makes statements like this and claims to have double-blind tests backing it should have published the studies. The website doesn't have any references or anything.

My initial gut reaction was that this is utter and complete bull, and that the company should be taken to task for their irresponsible claims. I just wanted to know if anyone knew any more about this product than the short amount available online.
 
From their front page (bolding mine):

"A clinical study on the key ingredient combination in Cold MD™ showed subjects reduced the frequency of episodes by an average of 3.3 vs. 0.8 against the placebo (312 percent greater resistance). In the same study, subjects reduced the duration of episodes by an average of 3.3 days vs. 1.7 days against the placebo (94 percent faster recovery). Carefully read the entire label before use. Cold MD™ is patent-pending. † Formulated by Dr. Marvin Heuer, MD, FAAFP, Chief Scientific Officer, Iomedix. All individuals have been remunerated. Carefully read the entire label before use."

Definition of "episode"? Couldn't find it on the site and I'll bet you won't either. A sneeze? Having to blow my nose? Hospital admission due to fluid buildup in my lungs? Death due to complications resulting from cold?

"All individuals have been remunerated." This doesn't inspire me with confidence.

List of ingredients is the typical "Look, ma! no drugs! All natural!"

On another board for student doctors, someone made the point that colds are viral and can't currently be treated by any OTC medications. Guess mom was right about resting and drinking plenty of fluids.

Unfortuately they don't make any claims (right...) because they add the tag that Earthborn quoted. They can essentially say whatever they want as long as they end it with "oh, yeah... all that stuff might not be valid. This product does nothing."

Of course, they only have to say that because "Big Pharma" is keeping them down... ;)
 
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It's got some N-acetyl cisteine in it, so that's good.

But my money's on the sucralose. Just a spoon full of Splenda...


The part that made me sad was my brother had bought some Zicam nasal spray swearing it helped him get over his colds.
I simply said, Hey if squirting water up you nose helps you, more power to you.
 
The alphabet city after all the associated doctors on that site is ringing alarm bells for me.

The head honcho has FAACP after his MD, and the only spelling out of it that I could find was Fellow of the American Academy of Chiropractic Physicians. Now, there may be others, but it is seeming to me more and more that the woo woo train has come to town on this one.
 
personable said:
"Dr. Marvin Heuer, MD, FAAFP,"

Fellow, American Acadamy of Family Physicians
Click to expand...

Ok, oops, I misread it. Still alphabet soups tend to bother me. I mean why are all these doctors associated with something that says in very small print on the website "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."

And the ingredients are: Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid) 500mg 830%
Zinc (as zinc acetate featuring
Nano-Diffuse™ technology) 15 mg 100%

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Immunigen™ Proprietary Blend 1353 mg
Astragalus extract (as Astragalus mongholicus) (root)
Eleuthero extract (as Eleutherococcus
senticosus) (Siberian ginseng) (root)
Ginseng extract (as Panax ginseng) (root)
Han Fang Ji extract (root)
Epimedium extract (as Epimedium
brevicornum) (aerial parts)
Echinacea extract (as Echinacea purpurea) (root)
Dong quai extract (as Angelica sinensis) (root)
Ginger extract (as Zingiber officinale) (root)
Citrus bioflavanoids
N-acetyl cysteine

Daily value not established

We are in supplement land........
 
Everyone I know seems to take whatever crackpot herbal remedy is fashionable at the moment. None them work (excpet maybe Zinc--since that's the crackpot remedy I use), so what's the big deal with a new scam in the mix?
 
Zygar said:
According to the ColdMD website (and commercial I saw a few minutes ago) ColdMD:
  • Increases immune system resistance by 312 percent
  • Helps you recover 94 percent faster
  • Has clinically proven results
Is this stuff for real?
Click to expand...

I am sure it is real, in that if you give them money you will get something for it.

If by real you means does it work, then that is incredibly unlikely.
 
Zygar said:
My thought is that any company that makes statements like this and claims to have double-blind tests backing it should have published the studies.
Click to expand...

Not to completely derail this thread, but that comment reminded me of a similar claim in a weight loss commercial. They said something like "87% of participants in a double blind study lost weight". My first thought was how many of those were in the control group?
 
This sounds somewhat similar to Cold-FX. This has been advertised for 3 years or so here in Canada. They have done 7 studies to show the effectiveness of their product, but only one had a more than a dozen people in it, and it was recently discounted as insufficient. That, and they use the word "wellness" on their website, which always triggers my bull[rule8]-o-meter.
 
According to supplement-speak, autoimmune diseases are the result of a "weakened" immune system--somehow this causes your immune system to attack harmless substances (like your connective tissue or nerves). The same supplements are generally recommended.

Although to tell the truth, the supplements recommended for any given condition are pretty much random.
 
Mr.Blue and Blue2 have been fighting off (not very well) colds since New Year's (and may the FSM spill his noodly wrath on the friend who came over KNOWING she was sick). I had it to, and did the sure-fire cure - one hot bath followed by a hot toddy and sleep 10 hours (rather than my usual 6) for three nights. Because, its a viral infection and you give your system a chance to kick it and it will. Mr.Blue works and worries, and you try to nail a 7-yr-old into bed....

Anyways, yesterday Mr.Blue came back from the market with a box of 'Airborne' which is supposed to (let's put it to music, shall we?) increase your ability to fight off infections and get rid of infections you have, yada yada. And the pharmacist (!) said it works. I looked at the back, and its just a mega-dose of Vitamin C and some zinc and a few other thises and thats. I suggested returning the box, as we have vitamins aplenty at the house. No, no, a teacher invented it, so it HAS to work. Mr.Blue took it - which involves dissolving the pill in hot water - and has felt miserable ever since. And still has a cold.

Guess I should have figured out how to use the rant box....
 
Zinc is one of the few things that may actually work. Zinc supplements will not work, you need the lozenges which you slowly suck on or the nose sprays. It's usefulness has nothing to do with zinc deficiency in your diet, it's all about getting zinc into your sinuses where it can harass the virus.
 
ChristineR said:
Zinc is one of the few things that may actually work. Zinc supplements will not work, you need the lozenges which you slowly suck on or the nose sprays. It's usefulness has nothing to do with zinc deficiency in your diet, it's all about getting zinc into your sinuses where it can harass the virus.
Click to expand...

That is interesting. I once used zinc lozenges (you know, as a test) and found them surprisingly effective, quite to my surprise. Despite my skepticism, I still use them whenever I get a really nasty cold because my personal anecdotal evidence was that they worked.
 
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