With cold and flu season just around the corner, you may be tempted by those zinc nasal products that promise to prevent the common cold and alleviate symptoms. A new report in the Archives of Otolaryngology, however, may give you pause: Multiple randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials have found that intranasal zinc is ineffective in preventing or reducing the duration of the common cold, the authors conclude. Worse, zinc nasal products may cause permanent reduction of (hyposmia) or loss of (anosmia) the sense of smell. The scientists used a standard approach for evaluating whether an environmental exposure is likely to cause a disease. They looked at published medical studies as well as 25 cases of anosmia, concluding, the probable explanation for the smell loss is chemical injury due to the use of intranasal zinc.TO LEARN MORE: Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, July 2010; abstract at archotol.ama-assn. org/cgi/content/abstract/136/7/673
