It's cold virus season and everyone is looking for a way to fight off their latest virus. There are people who swear by Cold-fX including members of my own family. But there were also people who at one time swore by vitamin C and echinacea. In fact, a big proponent of vitamin C was Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling. I'm a sceptic so I decided to do some research. I didn't spend a lot of time on this and quite likely I missed things.
Cold-fX is a Canadian product developed and sold by CV Technologies Inc. Beginning in 2000, they conducted a series of clinical and laboratory trials to prove that the product reduces the incidence, severity and duration of a cold by stimulating the immune system. The ingredient that is supposed to help you is ginseng extract. Cold-fX uses North American ginseng which is different than Asian ginseng.
I understand that both clinical and laboratory studies were carried out. The lab studies supported that hypothesis that Cold-fX protected users while the clinical studies did not. The two groups were then combined and the company concluded that the product works. I should add that the results were accepted and published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Health Canada also accepts the results of the studies. The manner in which the studies were conducted has split the scientific community so I remain sceptical. This looks a little like data mining to me. I understand the company is continuing to carry out studies to win over the sceptics.
Here are some of the study results:
The percentage of people who got colds during the four-month trial were: Placebo group 63.8%and Cold-fX group 54.6%.
The length of time the cold lasted was: Placebo group 11.1 days and Cold-fX group 8.7 days.
When I look at the numbers it tells me that even if you take Cold-fX you still have over a 50% chance of getting a cold and it will on average still last almost 9 days. It's not a significant difference for me. So the best you can say about the product is that it has a marginal effect which is quite a different story than all the testimonials I hear from users.
