A TV doctor has warned against taking cough medicine when suffering flu symptoms — as the remedy is, at best, useless and at worst, could do more harm than good.
Dr Ranj Singh, who regularly appears on daytime shows like This Morning and BBC‘s Morning Live, said the medicine is a waste of money and doctors no-longer recommend it.
‘We don’t really recommend anymore’, the NHS pediatrician told viewers of Morning Live on Tuesday, adding that children need to cough to clear mucus from the lungs, and syrups can temporarily stop this.
It comes months after experts urged health chiefs to pull cold remedies with the decongestant phenylephrine from British shelves because they are ‘not effective’.
They argued that UK customers are being hoodwinked by the drug firms behind the ‘useless’ medicines — which include Sudafed, Lemsip and Beechams.
Winter bugs have surged over the past few weeks leaving millions battling sniffles, coughs, temperatures and chills.
NHS England figures show nearly 5,000 people are being admitted to hospital with the influenza virus every day — 3.5 times the number recorded at this time last year.
A high body temperature, aches, exhaustion, a cough, sore throat, loss of appetite, feeling sick and a headache are all tell-tale signs of flu.
Regular BBC Morning Live guest, Dr Ranj Singh, (pictured) said cough medicine is a waste of money and doctor’s no-longer recommend it
But Dr Singh explained that instead of rushing to the shop to buy cough medicine, those with flu should instead sip on a hot drink to soothe their sore throat.
‘Warm liquids will help soothe your throat if you’re coughing,’ he said.
‘It will keep your mucus nice and thin because that will hydrate you. Honey and lemon is really good, most people will reach for cough mixture but you don’t actually need it.’
Dr Oliver Bevington, a senior registrar in paediatrics at Southampton Children’s Hospital, previously warned cough medicine often contained ingredients which could have ‘adverse effects or be toxic’ if consumed in large doses.
The NHS doctor explained that the medicine may also contain paracetamol which could lead to parents ‘unintentionally overdosing’ their children.
He added that there was no evidence that over-the-counter cough medicine actually worked to relieve symptoms.
Cough medicine is not the only cold and flu remedy that experts have warned doesn’t actually work.
A hot sweet drink, such as a cup of honey with lemon or blackcurrant, is a simple way of relieving the symptoms of a cough and sore throat
Manufacturers claim the decongestant phenylephrine eases stuffy noses by reducing swelling of the tiny blood vessels that sit inside the nostrils, making more space for air to pass through.
But NHS watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, states orally-administered decongestants ‘may relieve nasal congestion in the short term’.
This effect ‘does not extend past a few days, and the benefit is relatively small’.
Dr Singh said that those who are over the age of 65 or under five, pregnant or have an underlying health condition, have an increased risk of developing severe symptoms from the flu.
Speaking on the BBC he explained that there are four main strains of flu, but only one causes the majority of illness.
He said: ‘A and B are the ones that cause the main problems in humans. A is the one that circulates annually and causes the majority of illness.
‘B does it as well, but usually less of it. C tends to be milder and affect kids and D mainly affects cattle so it’s not really relevant.’
There are a few theories why flu is worse in the cold winter months in the UK, one is the virus can survive for longer.
Dr Singh said: ‘The virus is coated in a lipid layer, which hardens in the cold, it can survive outside the body, in the air and on surfaces for longer — therefore that makes it more transmittable.’
‘Also during the cold months we tend to spend more time indoors and we tend to be in closer quarters with each other. That is a perfect situation for a spread of a virus, particularly if it spreads through droplets like flu does,’ he added.
But many also feel worse during the winter months, which could be due to a slightly dampened immune system.
‘The cold also has an effect in our immune system. If you’re cold for a very long time it actually dampens your immune system down,’ Dr Singh said.
‘During these darker months, you’re less likely to get vitamin D and that has an impact on our immune system function,’ he added.
He also explained that breathing in the cold air can cause the blood vessels in the nose to constrict, and as a result, less blood flows to the areas the virus is hitting.
This means the immune cells, which should be protecting against the virus, may not be getting there quickly enough to fight it off.
To help prevent getting the virus Dr Singh recommend getting the flu jab.
He explains that although the vaccine won’t make it impossible to get ill, it can make it less severe.
‘It is possible to get the flu if you’re vaccinated, but the hope is because your immune system has been primed, you are less likely to get it and it’s going to be less severe,’ he said.
‘But the other thing to remember is that vaccines do not give you full-blown flu in people have got a normal immune system, which is the majority of people in this country, and around the world.’
