Browse evidence-based analysis of health-related claims and assertions
Log in to see full claim details, scientific mechanisms, and cited studies.
When citric acid is mixed with certain metals, it works best at a specific acidity level (not too sour and not too mild) to grab onto the metals most effectively.
Citric acid, like in lemons, loses parts of itself in water in three steps, and scientists measured how easily each step happens with numbers called pKa values.
Zinc lozenges might help with cold symptoms, but lab tests show zinc doesn't really fight cold viruses directly, so there's probably another reason they work.
Zinc salts tested in lab cells for cold viruses show they might not work well as a medicine because they could be more harmful than helpful.
Taking zinc lozenges for 5 days raises zinc levels in your blood, showing your body absorbs it, but it doesn't help with cold symptoms.
Taking zinc lozenges several times a day for about a week doesn't help reduce how often or how long people with colds shed the virus, meaning it doesn't stop the virus from copying itself or...
Taking zinc lozenges many times a day for about a week doesn't help adults feel better faster or less sick when they have a cold caused by a specific virus.
Scientists still don't know exactly how zinc lozenges help shorten how long you feel sick with a cold.
Taking zinc lozenges every couple of hours when you have a cold might help you get better faster, cutting the time you feel sick from about a week to just over four days.
Honey might help you feel better when you have a cough or cold, and doctors could suggest using it along with regular medicine.
Honey might help people breathe better and feel less sick when their long-term breathing problems get worse, according to a big review of studies.
Honey might help reduce cough symptoms and make colds less severe for both kids and adults, according to a review of many studies.
In simple terms, this means that a chemical called 2-ClFALD changes certain proteins in our body's cells that help with energy production, and this messes up how cells make energy, which could cause...
A chemical called 2-ClHDyA makes it harder for human lung cells to produce energy by reducing how much oxygen they use when burning fuel, which means the cells can't work as well.
Certain chemicals can change how proteins work in human lung cells, affecting many parts of the cell like how they stick together, use energy, and function, which might have wide-ranging effects on...
When certain immune cells get activated, they release a chemical that reacts with fats in nearby tissue cells to create new types of chlorinated fats, which might play a role in inflammation.
Different types of human lung cells have different fat molecules inside them. One cell type has fats that might make it more resistant to damage from stress, while another cell type has fats that...
People who often get colds or are around young kids might get more benefit from vitamin C, helping them spend fewer days stuck at home sick.
Taking vitamin C pills might make your cold symptoms less severe if you're a healthy person.
Some studies testing vitamin C for colds had a problem where people in the fake pill group accidentally got vitamin C too, which might have made the vitamin C look less helpful than it really is.
Taking vitamin C might help people who are stressed and in cold weather get over bad colds faster, cutting the time sick by about half, but we're not totally sure because only a few studies have...
Taking vitamin C pills can help healthy people get over colds faster, meaning they spend less time stuck at home or missing school—about 15% less time, according to some studies.
Vitamin C helps reduce bad cold symptoms a lot (by about a quarter), but doesn't really help with mild cold symptoms. This is based on studies of over 2700 colds.
Taking vitamin C pills every day might make your colds less severe, according to some studies that looked at healthy people.