Doctor Warns Against Using Popular Cold Remedy to Treat Flu Symptoms; it could do more harm than good
A TV doctor has warned against using cough medicine for flu symptoms, saying the remedy is at best useless and at worst could do more harm than good.
Dr. Ranj Singh, who regularly appears on daytime programs such as This Morning and BBC’s Morning Live, said the drug is a waste of money and doctors no longer recommend it.
“We don’t really recommend it anymore,” the NHS pediatrician told Morning Live viewers 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 withdraw cold medicines containing the decongestant phenylephrine from UK shelves because they are ‘ineffective’.
They argued that British customers are being misled by the pharmaceutical companies behind the ‘useless’ drugs – including Sudafed, Lemsip and Beechams.
Winter insects have increased dramatically in recent weeks, leaving millions of people with sniffles, coughs, fever and chills.
Figures from NHS England show that almost 5,000 people are admitted to hospital with the flu virus every day – 3.5 times as many as this time last year.
A high body temperature, aches, exhaustion, coughing, sore throat, loss of appetite, nausea and headaches are all telltale signs of the flu.
Regular BBC Morning Live guest, Dr. Ranj Singh, (pictured) said cough medicines are a waste of money and doctors no longer recommend them
But Dr. Singh explained that instead of running to the store to buy cough medicine, people with flu should instead sip on a warm drink to soothe their sore throat.
“Warm liquids help soothe your throat when you cough,” he said.
‘It keeps your mucus nice and thin, because that keeps you hydrated. Honey and lemon are really tasty, most people will reach for a cough mixture, but you don’t really need that.’
Dr. Oliver Bevington, senior registrar in paediatrics at Southampton Children’s Hospital, previously warned that cough medicines often contain ingredients that “may have adverse effects or be toxic” if consumed in large doses.
The NHS doctor explained that the drug may also contain paracetamol, which could lead to parents ‘inadvertently overdosing’ their children.
He added that there was no evidence that over-the-counter cough medicines actually worked to relieve symptoms.
Cough medicine isn’t the only cold and flu remedy that experts have warned doesn’t really work.

A warm, sweet drink, such as a cup of honey with lemon or blackcurrant, is a simple way to relieve the symptoms of a cough and sore throat
Manufacturers claim that the decongestant phenylephrine relieves stuffy noses by reducing the swelling of the small blood vessels in the nostrils, creating more room for air to pass through.
But the NHS watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, says orally administered decongestants can ‘relieve nasal congestion in the short term’.
This effect “lasts no more than a few days and the benefit is relatively small.”
Dr. Singh said those who are over 65 years old or under five years old, are pregnant or have an underlying health condition are at increased risk of developing severe symptoms of the flu.
Speaking on the BBC, he explained that there are four main strains of flu, but only one causes the majority of illnesses.
He said: ‘A and B are the ones that cause the biggest problems for people. A is the one that circulates annually and causes the majority of diseases.
‘B does it too, but usually less. C tends to be milder and affects children, while D mainly affects livestock, so it’s not really relevant.”
There are a few theories as to why flu is worse in the cold winter months in Britain. One of these is that the virus can survive longer.
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Dr. Singh said, “The virus is covered in a lipid layer, which hardens in cold. It can survive longer outside the body, in the air and on surfaces – making it more transmissible.”
‘Even during the cold months we spend more time indoors and are often closer to each other. That is a perfect situation for the spread of a virus, especially if it spreads through droplets like flu does,” he added.
But many also feel worse during the winter months, which may be due to a slightly dampened immune system.
‘The cold also has an effect on our immune system. If you are cold for a very long time, your immune system is actually dampened,” Dr Singh said.
“During these dark months, you are less likely to get vitamin D and that affects the functioning of our immune system,” he added.
He also explained that breathing in cold air can cause the blood vessels in the nose to constrict, reducing blood flow to the areas where the virus lands.
This means that the immune cells that should protect against the virus may not arrive quickly enough to fight it.
To help prevent him from getting the virus, Dr. Singh to get the flu shot.
He explains that while the vaccine does not make it impossible to get sick, it can make it less serious.
“It is possible to get the flu if you are vaccinated, but the hope is that your immune system is primed, so you are less likely to get the flu and the illness will be less severe,” he said.
“But the other thing to remember is that vaccines don’t give you full-blown flu. People have normal immune systems, as do the majority of people in this country and around the world.”