Non-prescription medicine is not regulated by the FDA and doesn’t have to work to be sold in the US. The best example of this is cold medication. The “cold industry” is a billion-dollar business with little to no data showing their products work. This is especially true when it comes to children. Controlled research has never proven that cold medicine works in children less than 12. The only thing that’s been shown is that honey may help children with a cough. (Never use honey in infants less than 12 months because it can cause infant botulism.) In older kids, say age four and up, Benadryl may help them sleep at night, but it has no impact on cold symptoms themselves. The reason Benadryl can be useful is because one of its side effects is sedation. However, about 10% of children get wound up when taking Benadryl, so keep this in mind the first time you use it.
In addition to having concerns over the effectiveness of non-prescription drugs, the contents may not be as described on the label. The best way to know if you’re getting what’s printed on the bottle is to ensure the product was approved by one of the following three independent laboratories:
• GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices)
• USP (United States Pharmacopeia)
• NSF (National Science Foundation)
Here’s an example of what I mean. A few years ago, researchers tested products containing echinacea. This is an herbal remedy which purports to helping with cold symptoms. The “active” part of the product is the flower. In these studies, two-thirds of the products tested did not contain the flower. Instead, leaf and stem parts were in the capsules. So even if echinacea worked, you are not necessarily getting what you paid for. The same thing holds for products containing Vitamin D, etc.
The one exception to this rule is when you buy name-brand products such as Motrin, Tylenol, Centrum, etc. The companies that make these products do their own internal quality control.
