Three quick questions. How long ago was your last cold? How long did your last cold last? How many colds have you have in the past ten years?
The common cold is caused by over 200 viruses. Typical symptoms include a sore throat, runny nose, congestion and a cough. The flu has similar symptoms, but also include fever, headache and muscle soreness. Flu is caused predominantly by three influenza viruses.
Children can have as many as twelve or more colds a year. Adults have between two and four colds a year. Colds last two weeks or longer.
Our immune system is our first line of defense against disease, including colds and flu. Once we encounter a virus our body develops an ability to recognize it. Based on this recognition, it can mount an effective attack the next time it sees the virus. With over 200 viruses that can cause colds, it is difficult to have immunity against all of them.
What can you do to fight the symptoms of a cold? Let me address one option – zinc. Not just any zinc, but a specific kind of zinc. You need a zinc that ionizes in your body. Most zinc compounds do not ionize. Zinc acetate provides 100% ionic zinc (iZn).
Zinc gluconate releases 72% as iZn. Zinc gluconate-glycine release 57% iZn. Zinc gluconate-citrate release zero iZn. When other compounds are added to zinc to make it taste better (such as citrus) it weakens the overall effectiveness of the iZn.
An article in the December 2014 LifeExtension magazine (lef.org) has a lengthy and technical description of the how and why zinc counters the cold viruses. It also discusses the thirty years of why ionized zinc has not been seen in the medical literature. And, also why testing done with zinc to combat the cold virus has been near total failures.
Small amounts of electrical current flow within our bodies. Interestingly enough, the electrical current flows from our mouth to our nasal cavities. Ionic zinc acetate taken as a capsule in the mouth provides relief for nasal symptoms because of this electrical flow.
The dosage of ionic zinc is also critical to counter the symptoms of colds. Ionic zinc can reduce the duration of a cold by more than a week.