Honey 'beats cough medicine'

[Al-khiyal]

SILVER SPRING, Maryland, October 18, 2007 (Reuters) - U.S. health advisers considered on Thursday if over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should still be sold for young children, as pediatricians argued the drugs are dangerous and do not work.

Manufacturers said the medicines used by millions of parents were safe and effective for kids when given as directed.

A committee of experts that advise the Food and Drug Administration is expected to make recommendations on Friday.

A week ago, Johnson & Johnson, Wyeth and other major manufacturers voluntarily pulled cough and cold drugs for children up to age 2. But physicians are pushing the government to restrict marketing for use up to age 6.

"Cough and cold products pose genuine risks when given to children under the age of 6 with no associated benefit," Dr. Michael Shannon, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, told the FDA panel.

Experts have grown alarmed by reports of deaths, seizures, hallucinations and other problems in some children who took the widely sold medicines.

Although the medicines have been widely sold for years, the FDA generally has not required companies to prove they work in children. Instead, data was extrapolated from adults.

While most evidence comes from adult use, "there are pediatric studies that demonstrate efficacy in children under 12, even as young as six months of age. The FDA has recognized these medicines as effective for years," said Linda Suydam, a former FDA official.

She now is president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a trade group for over-the-counter drugmakers.

Problems were rare and typically followed an accidental overdose, the makers said. A parent, for example, may have mistakenly given too much, or a curious toddler might have swallowed a high dose. Caregivers also may have unknowingly given more than one product with the same ingredients.

The industry group said it was planning a campaign to educate parents about proper use.

The FDA is asking the advisory panel if the medicines are appropriate for various age groups up to age 12 and if regulatory action is needed. The meeting follows a petition from Shannon and others concerned about the drugs.

The agency said it received 54 reports of deaths with decongestants and 69 with antihistamines from 1969 through 2006, FDA staff said. Most were in children younger than 2.

Companies have widely advertised the products under names including PediaCare and Little Colds with pictures of smiling babies and other images. About 95 million packages are sold in the United States each year, an industry group said.

FDA medical officer Lolita Lopez said 11 clinical trials testing the medicines in children had been published in the past 50 years. The studies did not show the medicines were effective, she said, but added the research had limitations.

The products contain a variety of ingredients that include decongestants, expectorants, antihistamines, cough suppressants and analgesics.

Dr. Daniel Levy, president of the Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, criticized widespread marketing with messages meant to reassure concerned parents.

"The products are advertised in all kinds of media to vulnerable people who worry about their children," Levy told the panel.

Doctors warn of harm from kids' cough, cold drugs

[Al-khiyal]

December 4, 2007 -- A clinical trial has found that honey is more effective at soothing a sore throat than a common active ingredient in children's cough medicines.

Honey has been used for centuries to relieve a tickly throat and scientists now believe it may be effective because it has constituents that kill microbes and acts as an antioxidant. That means it might prevent damage inside cells from chemical byproducts of their activity.

The study compared buckwheat honey with dextromethorphan, an ingredient in a range of branded medicines. Dextromethorphan is the most common active ingredient in children's over-the-counter cough medicine in the US, although it is less common in remedies aimed at children in the UK. The team enrolled 105 children with a night cough and their parents and split them into three groups. One group received a syringe-full of honey, one a syringe containing the medicine, and the third received an empty syringe.

The team from Pennsylvania State University report today in the Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine that honey was more effective than dextromethorphan at relieving the severity, frequency and bothersome nature of the cough. The medicine was slightly more effective than no treatment at all.

Sheila Kelly, of the Proprietary Association of Great Britain, said: "Having access to safe and effective paediatric cough and cold remedies is essential. Those on the UK market have demonstrated their efficacy through decades of use and their acceptance by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency means parents can continue to rely on these over- the-counter cough and cold remedies."

Honey 'beats cough medicine'

[Cheba_Mami]

Always good to know

[Bent_Bladi]

aw HECK yeah!!!

see yall - Prophet Muhammad (3alayhil salam) already said thousands of years ago that there is shifaa2 (roughly:"healing powers" ) in honey... dayyum - i should become an islamic medical doctor