A man who discovered that zinc lozenges can cut time off a cold, George Eby, has recently been recognized for his work. According to StatesMan.com, whether people will listen is another story.
Not even after the respected Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews looked at the conflicting studies and declared that zinc, given within 24 hours of cold onset, indeed shortens the duration and severity of the common cold?
Not even, Eby said.
He believes that the path to curing colds with zinc lozenges has been riddled with barriers since he published his discovery with two Austin collaborators in 1984, because he is not a credentialed scientist and mainstream medicine has resisted the message.
Even though the Cochrane review extolled the benefits of zinc, it did not say which form — lozenge or syrup — to take, didn’t recommend a dose and won’t quell naysayers who insist that zinc does nothing for a cold, said Eby, who agrees that more research is needed.
For three decades, Eby has been promoting the power of zinc — ever since he quit working as a planner at what is now the Texas Department of State Health Services. His passion for zinc began in 1979 when he gave his then-3-year-old daughter Karen a zinc tablet to stimulate an immune system ravaged by acute lymphocytic leukemia. He discovered that the zinc also got rid of a bad cold within a few hours, he said, leading to the first published study that he wrote with Donald Davis, a University of Texas biochemist, and Dr. William Halcomb, an osteopath.
Eby later obtained patents on Cold-Eeze, Cold-Free, Zinx and Fast Dry zinc lozenges, but they have since expired.
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