Could the herbs Ivy and Thyme help you overcome that troublesome cough?
An intro to ivy and thyme
The herbs ivy and thyme have been traditionally used for thousands of years to help with respiratory problems and troublesome coughs, but it’s only in more recent years that we’ve started to gain access to some proper, good quality research to back up their traditional use, exciting!
Tackling that cough
Coughs more often than not accompany cold and flu infections. However, the trouble is, they can often linger for up to weeks after all of your other symptoms have already given up the ghost!
What does the research say?
A recent meta-analysis assessed the results from a number of trials investigating different herbal cough remedy formulations. Data from over 1,400 patients was pulled together and analyzed.
Of particular interest, were four studies that looked at preparations containing ivy and thyme, and it turns out the results were extremely promising. It was concluded that the frequency and severity of these patients’ coughs were significantly reduced. The researchers also found that these herbs, in particular, were able to support the thinning of mucous. This is often the purpose of a cough after all, to get rid of yucky mucous from your airways, so if this is thinner, then your cough will be much more productive and likely to get rid!
The adverse events after the use of ivy and thyme were mild and no different to those in the placebo groups. This is often a different story when it comes to more synthetic products laden with paracetamol, caffeine or even refined sugar. So all in all, very positive results indeed
Conclusion: This review found strong evidence for ivy/primrose/thyme-based preparations being significantly superior to placebo in alleviating the frequency and severity of patients’ cough symptoms. Additional research, including other herbal treatments, is needed in this area.
Herbal Medicine for Cough: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Department of Integrative Gastroenterology, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Essen, Germany. Dec 2015
No comment