Does Cough Medicine Really Work?

What do you do when you have a bad cough? If you reach for the cherry-flavored cough medicine, you’re not alone. Every year, people spend billions of dollars on this stuff. But does any of it actually work? In this episode, we explain the chemistry behind cough medicine, and dig into the evidence to find out which remedies actually work.

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Writer/Producer:
Shelley Sandiford

Executive Producer:
Adam Dylewski

Scientific consultants:
Bruce Rubin, Ph.D.
Alison Le
Kyle Nackers

References:
Reviews (Cough Medicine):
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10…
http://ebn.bmj.com/content/5/3/78.ful…
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti… http://www.bmj.com/content/324/7333/3…

Cough treatments:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10…
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/8…
http://www.chestnet.org/Foundation/Pa…

Coughing (general information):
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/heal…
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/…
http://clinicalgate.com/airway-cleara…
http://www.lung.org/about-us/blog/201…
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/fea…
http://patient.info/health/cough-medi…

Cough reflex in animals:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

Effects of honey on coughing:
http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamap…
http://www.cochrane.org/CD007094/ARI_…

Dextromethorphan poisoning:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/1…

(noscript)