Remember the old cold remedies?

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Well, finally doctors have caught up with us old fashioned morons.. :LMAO:Why do they think that hot elderberry rob, or hot lemon and honey were recommended to start with? Ah, but see, anecdotal experience just doesn't cut it, does it. :giggle:Trust them to think granny was a twat.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210121924.htm

Hot Drinks Help Fight Cold And Flu

ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2008) — A hot drink may help reduce the symptoms of common colds and flu, according to new research by Cardiff University's Common Cold Centre.

New research at the Centre has found that a simple hot drink of fruit cordial can provide immediate and sustained relief from symptoms of runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness and tiredness.

Published in the December 2008 edition of the clinical journal Rhinology, the research compared the effects of a commercially produced cordial apple and blackcurrant drink either 'hot' or at room temperature in 30 volunteers with common cold symptoms.

The Centre's Director, Professor Ron Eccles, is urging people suffering from colds or flu to have a hot drink to help reduce their symptoms.

Professor Eccles said: "It is surprising that this is the first scientific research on the benefit of a hot drink for treating cold and flu symptoms.
"With temperatures falling and Christmas just round the corner, cold viruses love this time of year. Having a bottle of fruit cordial in the cupboard and making a hot drink could help fight off the symptoms of festive cold and flu. The big advantage of this type of treatment is that it is cheap as well as safe and effective."

The Common Cold Centre is the world's only centre dedicated to researching and testing new medicines for treatment of the symptoms of flu and the common cold. It is based in Cardiff University's School of Biosciences

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even cheaper when you make it yourself...

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0103-does_winter_cause_the_flu.htm

Does Winter Cause The Flu?
Microbiologists Discover Reason Why The Flu Virus Thrives In Winter

January 1, 2008 — Virologists investigating transmission of the flu virus found that it is more likely to spread at colder temperatures. The dry, cold conditions pull moisture out of droplets released by coughs and sneezes, which allows the virus to linger in the air. Additionally, cold, low humidity air dries out the nasal passages and makes virus transmission more likely. This contradicts the long-held view that the flu spreads because the immune system is less active during the winter.

When Mom or Grandma tells you to bundle up in winter, you might catch a cold or flu, she may be right. New scientific experiments have now proven what we all just assumed, that flu is more common in winter.

If you have had the flu, you know how awful it feels. “Incredible body pain, muscle aches, sore joints, difficulty walking," said Samira Mubaraka, who has had the flu twice.

We all know influenza is more common in winter. But researchers have not known why. Virologist doctor Peter Palese has been studying the effects of heat and cold on the flu virus. He found that at higher temperatures, the flu virus didn’t spread, but at colder temperature it did.

“The virus is probably more stable in cold temperature, so it hangs in the air much longer,” Dr. Palese told Ivanhoe.

Allowing it to spread easier. Here’s how -- when we cough or sneeze, microscopic droplets of water and the virus enter the air. Dry, cold conditions dry out the droplets, helping the virus linger in the air. The dry air also dries out nasal passages, which helps the virus stick.

“Cold dry air going over your nasal mucosa gets cracks in our airways and that allows virus to get in more easily,” Anice Lowen, researcher at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine told Ivanhoe.

And as we head into colder temps -- doctors say although we can’t control, we can get a flu shot to try and prevent it.

WHAT IS THE FLU? The flu is caused by the influenza virus, which targets the respiratory tract by binding to the surface of cells. Then the virus releases its genetic information into the cell's nucleus to replicate itself. When the cell dies, those copies are released into the body, infecting other cells. Flu symptoms are unpleasant, but not life-threatening by themselves.

However, the flu weakens the immune system, making the body vulnerable to more serious infections, such as pneumonia. Because the flu is caused by a virus -- as opposed to bacteria -- antibiotics are not an effective treatment. Both the flu and the common cold are best treated by bed rest, consuming lots of fluids, and taking over-the-counter medication to ease symptoms until the virus runs its course.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330203401.htm

Why The Flu Virus Is More Infectious In Cold Winter Temperatures

ScienceDaily (Apr. 1, 2008) — A finding by a team of scientists at the National Institutes of Health may account for why the flu virus is more infectious in cold winter temperatures than during the warmer months.

At winter temperatures, the virus’s outer covering, or envelope, hardens to a rubbery gel that could shield the virus as it passes from person to person, the researchers have found. At warmer temperatures, however, the protective gel melts to a liquid phase. But this liquid phase apparently isn’t tough enough to protect the virus against the elements, and so the virus loses its ability to spread from person to person.

“The study results open new avenues of research for thwarting winter flu outbreaks,” said National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Director Duane Alexander. “Now that we understand how the flu virus protects itself so that it can spread from person to person, we can work on ways to interfere with that protective mechanism.”

Influenza viruses are usually spread from person to person through coughs and sneezes. Infection with flu virus can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death.

In October of 2007, researchers working with guinea pigs showed that animals sick with the flu were more likely to get other guinea pigs sick at colder temperatures than at warmer temperatures.

In the current study, the NIH researchers used a sophisticated magnetic resonance technique, developed and previously tested in NIAAA's Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, to create a detailed fingerprint of how the virus’s outer membrane responded to variations in temperature. The virus’s outer membrane is composed chiefly of molecules known as lipids, explained the study’s senior author, Joshua Zimmerberg, Ph.D., chief of NICHD’s Laboratory of Cellular And Molecular Biophysics. This family of molecules does not mix with water, and includes oils, fats, waxes, and cholesterol.

Dr. Zimmerberg and his colleagues found that at temperatures slightly above freezing, the virus’s lipid covering solidified into a gel. As temperatures approach 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the covering gradually thaws, eventually melting to a soupy mix.

Cooler temperatures, apparently, cause the virus to form the rubbery outer covering that can withstand travel from person to person, Dr. Zimmerberg said. Once in the respiratory tract, the warm temperature in the body causes the covering to melt to its liquid form, so that the virus can infect the cells of its new host, he added.

“Like an M&M in your mouth, the protective covering melts when it enters the respiratory tract,” Dr. Zimmerberg said. “It’s only in this liquid phase that the virus is capable of entering a cell to infect it.”

In spring and summer, however, the temperatures are too high to allow the viral membrane to enter its gel state. Dr. Zimmerberg said that at these temperatures, the individual flu viruses would dry out and weaken, and this would help to account for the ending of flu season.
The finding opens up new possibilities for research, Dr. Zimmerberg said. Strategies to disrupt the virus and prevent it from spreading could involve seeking ways to disrupt the virus’s lipid membrane.

In cold temperatures, the hard lipid shell can be resistant to certain detergents, so one strategy could involve testing for more effective detergents and hand-washing protocols to hinder the spread of the virus.

Similarly, Dr. Zimmerberg added that flu researchers might wish to study whether, in areas affected by a severe form of the flu, people might better protect themselves against getting sick by remaining indoors at warmer temperatures than usual.

The findings were published online March 2 in Nature Chemical Biology. The study was a collaboration between researchers at two NIH institutes, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Other authors of the paper were I.V. Polozov and L. Bezrukov, both of the Laboratory of Cellular And Molecular Biophysics at NICHD and K. Gawrisch of the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Magnetic resonance experiments were conducted and analyzed at NIAAA under Dr. Gawrisch's guidance.

[Janet]

I'm waiting for "Scientists announce that breathing, when repeated over a lifetime, keeps people alive!"

[MinorityView]

No, no, scientists are smart people! As my brother says: "They have a keen grasp of the obvious." Sometimes...once in a while...very occasionally?

So running a humidifier, should, all by itself, reduce the likelihood of getting the flu?

[Quickening]

the research compared the effects of a commercially produced cordial apple and blackcurrant drink either 'hot' or at room temperature in 30 volunteers with common cold symptoms.

Fast forward a few decades and they'll be saying the sugar in commerically produced fruit drinks depress the immune system and we'd be better off drinking hot herbal teas during colds. :eyeroll: Never mind a hundred years ago, thats what we were doing.