2

There appear to be numerous anecdotal claims from parents on Amazon (and my wife's Facebook) of this product being the cough and cold cure their children needed;

hylands cough and cold

http://www.amazon.com/Hylands-Relief-Liquid-Natural-Symptoms/dp/B002MTYF6M/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1445445329&sr=1-1&keywords=cough+and+cold+hylands

However, I have read that Hyland's teething tablets were recalled after a number of consumers' reported babies suffering symptoms consistent with Belladonna poisoning.

Does their cough and cold medicine suffer from similar deficiencies or do the 'active ingredients' fall under the same category as those discussed this question? Or is there evidence to believe that this medicine may after all be effective?

As a side question, is there a name for the psychological phenomenon where parents believe that alternative medicines and contraptions (like amber bead necklaces) actually work, despite the scientific evidence (or lack there of)? I try so hard to fight anecdotal evidence with hard science, but it seems like a lot of parents rely heavily on anecdotal evidence (because all the moms/parents they talk to that tried it say it worked great).

Community
  • 1
n00b
  • 391
  • 3
  • 15
  • Although faintly labelled homoeopathic, the [ingredients list](http://hylands.com/products/hylands-4-kids-cold-%E2%80%99n-cough) suggests that some active ingredients may be present in 6X (1 in a million) concentrations, which is low but higher than I would regard as homoeopathic. – Henry Oct 21 '15 at 19:13
  • The thing about the homeopathic remedies is that they specify how many times something has been diluted but they do NOT tell you the original concentration. So, 6X starting with a 100% solution is an entirely different thing from 6X starting from a 0.1% solution. To complicate things, the dilution may not really be 6X. Many of the companies do strange things like filling a container with "mother tincture," emptying it out, then filling and emptying with pure water multiple times. God knows what the real dilution is then, and he's not much inclined to tell. – JRE Oct 22 '15 at 06:55
  • So in that case, can you tell me if the ingredients can effectively treat cough and cold at high enough doses, even if the actual dosage/levels cannot be confirmed? – n00b Oct 22 '15 at 16:28

0 Answers0