Joe wrote:
> Like I said it works for me

Anecdotal. Last refuge of a true believer.

> and apparently many others,

Anecdotal. Last refuge of a true believer.

> and if others
> prefer not to even try it out and instead religiously have 1 or 2
> colds a year,

There's nothing "religious" about having a cold, but there IS something
devoutly religious about the *blind faith* that pseudoscientific
bullshit remedies like echinacea or homeopathy are beneficial.

Colds are caused by a group of bugs known as rhinoviruses. There
are 101 strains, and every time a rhinovirus infects you, your
immune system produces protective antibodies. From then on,
you’re immune to that strain.

The problem is that there are 100 other rhinos (as researchers
call them) waiting to leap into your nasal passages. So even if
you get two colds a year, it would take more than half a century
to run through all the strains.

“It’s hard to find something that will effectively kill the
virus,” says Purdue University chemist Carol Post, who studies
anti-cold compounds. “There are so many different types.”

And rhinos are only part of the story. Two other types of bug,
the coxsackievirus and adenovirus, also cause coldlike symptoms.
There are about 10 each of these, which adds up to a lot more
sniffles before you’re immune....

Humans don’t like being told there’s no cure for their coughs
and sore throats.

So they’ve turned to a variety of alternative treatments, such
as echinacea, zinc and vitamin C. Americans bought more than
$150 million worth of echinacea last year, according to the
“Nutrition Business Journal.”

The problem is that none of these treatments works – at least
not if you believe in scientific studies.

The latest echinacea study, in the New England Journal of
Medicine, examined 399 adults who had been exposed to cold
viruses. The patients were broken into four groups. Three got
different echinacea preparations and one group got a placebo.
About 90 percent of the subjects came down with colds, and the
echinacea takers did *no better* than those on the placebo.

“We don’t think echinacea is an effective drug,” said University
of Michigan epidemiologist Arnold Monto. He was not involved in
this study but did one two years ago that came to a similar
conclusion.
full article: http://tinyurl.com/cgw4q

> I'll slap a 'rolls eyes emoticon' sticker on their nose.

And that's probably just as convincing to them as your anecdotes are to me.

> Perhaps the research is misconducted

Repeated studies have shown no -- ZERO, ZIP, NADA -- benefit of
echinacea. Dittos for homeopathy. Your anecdotes are not evidence to the
contrary.

<snip>