Is This True? Duct Tape Treats Warts

(This column is one in an occasional series that will discuss health tips that you may have heard, read about or seen on the internet.)

Does elderberry syrup help prevent (or at least treat) the flu?

Although there is no scientific evidence that I could find that elderberry syrup can help prevent influenza, a study 15 years ago through the University of Oslo in Norway showed that a specific elderberry extract called Sambucol was effective in treating the flu.

In a group of 60 patients with influenza (90% type A, 10% type B), half were given Sambucol and half were given a placebo.
The patients in the Sambucol group had less intense flu symptoms and were cured in 2-3 days. The placebo group took at least 6 days to be cured.

Sambucol may have worked in the study because it contains antioxidants called flavonoids that stimulate the immune system. It also contains anthocyanins, which are anti-inflammatory.

Does cold weather make you sick?

Colds and influenza peak in the winter, which may be one of the reasons that cold weather gets blamed for illness. Cold and colds are correlated, but one does not cause the other.

We know that viruses and bacteria are what make us sick, but there are reasons why there is more illness when the weather is cold.

Some viruses, especially influenza A, do not spread as far and as fast when the air is humid. During the winter, the outside air is colder and usually less humid.

Inside, central heating makes the air warmer but also less humid. Rhinoviruses, which cause colds, replicate better when the air is colder.

Is swallowing gum dangerous?

Gum consists mostly of synthetic or natural gum resin.

While we cannot digest it, the gum usually goes right through our gastrointestinal tract and comes out in our bowel movements.

Only if gum is swallowed in large amounts or with more substantial undigestible items (such as coins) does it tend to cause obstructions.

Should you treat warts with duct tape?

This is one of those ideas that seems so bizarre that there is no way that it could be true – but it is.

There may be something in the adhesive that triggers a patient’s immune system to attack the wart, but nobody is completely sure how it works.