Stop It Cold Cough Syrup

Its About Thyme!

By Terry Vanderheyden, ND

In 2016, Health Canada reminded parents not to give cold and cough medications to
children 6 years old or younger, because the products have not been shown to be
effective and, further, have the potential for serious harm.1 Its reasonable to assume,
I think, that, if they dont work in young children, these OTC drug products probably
dont work in older children or adults either. In fact, a 2007 clinical trial found that the
popular active ingredient dextromethorphan (DM) (a drug commonplace in cough
medicines like Dimetapp, Benylin DM, Robitussin, Nyquil, etc.) was no more effective
than placebo and was in fact inferior to honey, which was found to be significantly
effective for coughs! The authors of that study concluded that, honey but not DM was
superior to no treatment for nocturnal symptoms associated with childhood upper
respiratory tract infection. 2 (Note that Stop It Cold Cough Syrup contains honey in
addition to the medicinal ingredients listed below).

Lets examine the uniquely compelling therapeutic rationale for the ingredients in this
innovative recipe, grounded as it is in both research and tradition:

Elderberry juice concentrate

Elderberry is antiviral and antibacterial, while having mucous membrane soothing and
immune-enhancing qualities. The berries are rich in flavonoid compounds that have
potent inhibitory activity on several strains of influenza.3

A clinical trial conducted in Norway in 2000, for example, investigated the effectiveness
of elderberry extract in 60 patients with the flu. The results of the trial found that
influenza symptoms disappeared 4 days earlier (i.e. in 2 days v. 6 in the placebo group),
and the need for symptomatic medications like Tylenol or Advil was significantly less in
those receiving elderberry as opposed to placebo. The authors concluded that Elderberry
extract seems to offer an efficient, safe and cost-effective treatment for influenza.4

An in-vitro study, meanwhile, compares the efficacy of elderberry compared to the

antiviral drug, Oseltamivir, for inhibition of the virulent H1N1 virus, concluding that the
anti-H1N1 activities compare favorably to the anti-influenza properties of
Oseltamivir.5

Wild cherry bark (Prunus serotina)

According to Native American ethnobotanist, Daniel Moerman, wild cherry bark was a
favourite remedy of numerous native American tribes, with uses chronicled as follows:

Coughs, colds, fevers - Cherokee

Cholera and tuberculosis - Chippewa
Diarrhea, coughs, and as a tonic for general debility - Delaware
Coughs, colds, fevers, headaches, bronchitis, lung inflammation, sore throats,
blood purification - Iroquois.6
Eclectic physician and author John William Fyfe describes the properties of wild cherry
bark as effective for respiratory membrane irritations, its effect being not just due to the
alleviation of cough but also the fact that it lowers fevers, while improving both strength
and appetite.7

Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea)

Echinacea is antiviral, antibacterial, and immune enhancing. Its effectiveness as an
antiviral measure for preventing and treating colds is well-known. A 1997 clinical trial
demonstrates that echinacea as a component of a 4-ingredient formula is significantly
more effective at relieving cough than is a placebo.8

Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)

Marshmallow is considered one of our most effective demulcent herbs, that class of herb
known to contain mucilage, a soothing component for mucous surfaces like inflamed and
irritated bronchi. In his famous Herbal of the 17th century, Nicholas Culpeper comments
that marshmallow doth marvellously help excoriation, the phthisic, pleurisy, and
other diseases of the chest and lungs.9

Lobelia (Lobelia inflata)

Lobelia was discovered by Samuel Thomson, the progenitor of the Thomsonian
movement in the US in the early 19th century. It calms spasmodic coughs. Lobelia
has long had a splendid reputation as a cough medicine, writes Finley Ellingwood, MD,
in 1915. It is indicated when there is a sense of tightness or constriction in the chest,
with difficult breathing.10

References:

1. Health Canada reminds parents not to give cough and cold medication to children
under 6 years old. Accessed July 31, 2017 at http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-
rappel-avis/hc-sc/2016/57622a-eng.php.

2. Paul IM, et al. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2007; 161 (12): 1140-1146.

3. Krawitz C, et al. BMC Complement Altern Med 2011; 11:16.

4. Zakay-Rones Z, et al. J Int Med Res 2004; 32: 132-140.

5. Roschek B Jr, et al. Phytochemistry 2009; 70: 12551261.

6. Moerman DE. Native American Ethnobotany. Cambridge: Timber Press; 1998.

7. Fyfe JW. Specific Diagnosis and Specific Medication. Cincinnati: John K. Scudder;
1914, p. 683.

8. Thom E, Wollan T. Phytother Res 1997; 11: 207.

9. Culpeper, Nicholas. Culpepers Complete Herbal. London: Richard Evans; 1816.
(reprint of the original 1653 edition)

10. Ellingwood, Finley, ed. Protracted Cough. Ellingwoods Therapeutist 1915; 9 (2): 34.