A while back, our dear Adrian was feeling under the weather, and asked for advice on how to beat a cold or flu. "One word: Airborne," said my wife. Tutusue replied, "I second this one word! The stuff is amazing. So many people I know swear by it. I even like the taste!" Pua'i Mana'o gave a thumbs up, too. And even I became a believer. As I type this, there are three barrels of Airborne on the kitchen counter, and I've got one on my desk.
But the scientific and medical community is starting to speak up about Airborne, and giving good reason to be skeptical. In fact, as the story unravels, I'm starting to feel a bit the fool. After all, I recently came to believe (like our pediatrician does) that most cough syrups are placebos. How could I doubt them, and not the little fizzy tablets to which I'd started to attribute miracles?
To be sure, believing you're getting better or beating a bug is often all you really need to march your way through the day. The power of positive thinking, reverse hypochondria, whatever you want to call it.
But if you too have been enamored of this best-selling creation of a school teacher, read on:
Does Airborne Really Stave off Colds? (ABC News)
Created By A School Teacher! (David Cowan)
Airborne Baloney (Scientific American)
I suspect I'll still probably pop a tablet into a glass of water the next time I get the sniffles, just in case... but my days of evangelizing Airborne are over.
But the scientific and medical community is starting to speak up about Airborne, and giving good reason to be skeptical. In fact, as the story unravels, I'm starting to feel a bit the fool. After all, I recently came to believe (like our pediatrician does) that most cough syrups are placebos. How could I doubt them, and not the little fizzy tablets to which I'd started to attribute miracles?
To be sure, believing you're getting better or beating a bug is often all you really need to march your way through the day. The power of positive thinking, reverse hypochondria, whatever you want to call it.
But if you too have been enamored of this best-selling creation of a school teacher, read on:
Does Airborne Really Stave off Colds? (ABC News)
Airborne said that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with "care and professionalism" by a company specializing in clinical trial management, GNG Pharmaceutical Services. GNG is actually a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was no clinic, no scientists and no doctors. The man who ran things said he had lots of clinical trial experience. He added that he had a degree from Indiana University, but the school says he never graduated... Airborne insists the results are valid, but the company is removing all references to the study from its Web site and packaging.
Without actually saying so, the package implies every which way it can that Airborne is a medicine that prevents or cures colds. But did you notice the asterisks on the four sentences containing any reference to actually treating colds? I scoured the package for clarification, but I had to literally use a magnifying glass before I could make out the footnote in fine, fine print that read: *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease... So if this product wasn't intended to treat colds, why should we take it at the first sign of cold symptoms, and why use it in airplanes, carpools etc.? What does it even mean to REPEAT EVERY THREE HOURS AS NECESSARY? Necessary to do what? It doesn't make any sense, but the manufacturer Knight McDowell Labs knows that few people will ever notice.
Airborne Baloney (Scientific American)
Harriet Hall, a retired U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and family physician who studies alternative medicine... looked up Airborne's ingredients in the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database and found no evidence that any of the ingredients prevents colds. Worse, vitamin A is unsafe in doses greater than 10,000 units a day, and Airborne contains 5,000 units per tablet and recommends five pills a day or more. The only positive finding was for vitamin C, for which some evidence indicates that taking high doses may shorten the duration of cold symptoms by one to one and a half days in some patients. But the large amounts needed may cause side effects. "There's more evidence for chicken soup than for Airborne," Hall told me. "In the absence of any credible double-blind studies to support the claims for Airborne, I'll stick to hand washing."
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