2 ms·
DXM may or may not suppress coughing relative to placebo - the study cited here appears to be have been written entirely by authors from drug companies, so perh
by robmccoll 3mo ago
DXM may or may not suppress coughing relative to placebo - the study cited here appears to be have been written entirely by authors from drug companies, so perhaps there is some bias. Here's a meta analysis that favors honey over DXM https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32817011/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32817011/, the original study that kicked off this idea that also favors honey https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18056558/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18056558/, and a different meta analysis https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6513626/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6513626/ which found little or no difference between honey and DXM. Whether its effective or not, to me there doesn't seem to be compelling evidence that it is more effective than honey.
- asveikau 3mo agoIt's funny that TFA seems to use the comparison to honey as disparagement, rather than interpret the same information as an endorsement of the helpfulness of honey.
- tclancy 3mo agoI think the point is honey is known as a home remedy, may already be in your house and is available at a much lower price (farmer’s markets and woo merchants possibly excepted).
- ibejoeb 3mo agoHoney is also well established in medicine, especially in wound and infection management. I'm not sure of how much clinical evidence supports cough suppression, but it not huge leap to suspect that it could be a second order effect of its antibacterial properties, like in bacterial bronchitis.
- nodamage 3mo agoIt's worth nothing that all of the studies you linked were performed only on children. It is entirely plausible that DXM is effective in adults but not children because of the difference in dosage or measurement (studies on children often rely on parental surveys).