We've just passed through the first week or so of official winter, so there's truly no escaping the fact that cold season is upon us. To combat the possibility of catching a cold, many Canadians turn to vitamin C, vitamin D, multivitamin and mineral support, and maybe even echinacea or resveratrol. But several studies have given credence to the use of an old Chinese Medicine remedy that you may want to add to your arsenal of cold-fighting nutrients.

A study out of the University of Alberta published in The Canadian Medical Association Journal a few years back found that supplementing with an extract of North American ginseng lowers your chance of getting a cold and reduces the severity of colds once you have them. North American ginseng, grown primarily in Ontario, British Columbia and Wisconsin, is a root that resembles a parsnip in appearance and is highly valued for its medicinal properties.

Over the course of four months, participants of the study took either the ginseng extract or a placebo, depending on the group to which they were blindly divided. The study found that the number of participants reporting 2 or more colds in the ginseng group was 10 percent, compared to 22.8 percent in the placebo group. They also found that the duration of colds in the ginseng group was reduced by an average of 1.6 percent.

Ginseng has been used for upper respiratory tract infections, such as colds, within the Chinese medicine system for thousands of years. The Chinese consider a cold infection to be an unbalanced yin state. The ginseng root, as with most roots, is considered yang and is therefore used to balance the yin state. Ginseng is also used traditionally to lower blood sugar and as a tool against cancer.

You can find North American ginseng in most health food stores as supplements, teas or herbal tinctures. It is also the main component of the popular cold remedy here in Canada called Cold FX. You may even be able to find the whole root in some Asian markets or health food stores. Traditionally, a few slices of the root are simmered in boiling water for ten minutes or so to make a decoction which is then sipped like a tea.



The Healthy Foodie is Doug DiPasquale, Holistic Nutritionist and trained chef, living in Toronto. You can email him with questions at dugdeep@gmail.com.