A vaccine that cuts cold and flu risk by a third

Washington, Sept 17 : People can now expect a winter with less instances of colds and flu, for a new study has now found evidence that a popular cold and flu-fighting vaccine can offer significant help.

It was shown in the three-year study that participants who took COLD-FX were about one-third less likely to get a "Jackson" cold or flu.

The very sensitive Jackson scoring method is a well-accepted scientific approach for judging clinical symptoms, which include coughing, sneezing, runny noses and others.

COLD-FX is a unique extract of North American ginseng discovered by 25 Canadian scientists.

The study also revealed that COLD-FX provided an added protection to participants along with benefits of flu shot. The current study confirmed the results of previous clinical trials, one of which showed that for trial participants who regularly suffer two colds a year, COLD-FX reduced their chance of getting a second one by 56 percent. Even health Canada approved strong claims for the product last year.

The study was conducted on 780 healthy seniors in four major Canadian cities who took the flu shot just prior to their six-month treatment phase as part of the study. Participants were given either the standard dose of two capsules a day or double the standard dose or a placebo.

Led by Dr. Gerald Predy, Medical Officer of Health for Alberta Health Services, in collaboration with various leading Canadian researchers, the study involved two principal methods to check on upper respiratory infections: lab tests and the Jackson method.

In comparison to the placebo, both COLD-FX regimes produced similar and statistically significant reductions in the number of upper respiratory infections per individual - 36 percent for the lower dose and 33 percent for the higher dose. In addition, the number of Jackson infections in the standard dose COLD-FX group was 31 percent less than for the placebo group, while infections for the double dose group were 33 percent below the placebo group.

COLD-FX is the only known clinically proven therapy for both prevention and treatment that naturally enhances the immune system to fight viral respiratory infections.

ANI