A new review of various medical studies confirms what I’ve been preaching to friends for years: taking zinc can shorten the life of the common cold. And while chicken soup might soothe the soul, zinc can make symptoms like a runny nose and sore throat feel less harsh and also shorten the length of a cold by a few days. The only catch is that it must be taken at the very first signs of a cold to work. Many of the studies reviewed showed the benefits of zinc to be quite significant, reports The New York Times . In one study, zinc cut the

life of a cold from seven days to four days, and in another study, the duration of a cough was reduced by three days. What doctors don’t yet know is why zinc seems to work or which zinc products work best. And with so many zinc products on the market, this unknown piece of knowledge can make for a confusing shopping spree. All of the studies used various forms of zinc in a range of doses, but the general consensus is that it does work on some level – cold sufferers rejoice!

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Zinc Works at Shortening Colds, Study Says