It’s almost time for kids to go back to school, which means cold and flu season is just around the corner. Each year, Americans get millions of colds, and between 5 and 20 percent of Americans get the flu, a much more severe disease.
Fortunately, vaccines can help to protect you against the flu. With rare exceptions, everyone age 6 months and older should be vaccinated against the flu each year. No complementary health approach has been shown to prevent the flu.
There’s no vaccine against the common cold, but washing your hands often with soap and water and not touching your face with unwashed hands will help protect you from colds. While no dietary supplements have been proven to prevent colds or treat their symptoms, a few have shown some promise, including oral zinc products, vitamin C (but only for people under severe physical stress), and probiotics. The evidence for echinacea, garlic, American ginseng, and (for most people) vitamin C for the common cold is conflicting, inadequate, or mostly negative.
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