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Cough Syrup: “It Doesn’t Work”

Texas Department of State Health Services

Don’t turn to the medicine cabinet for cough relief. Turn to the kitchen cabinet.

Honey is better than cough syrup for treating throat irritation caused by a cold, according to Dr. Harold Farber, Pediatric Pulmonologist at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Farber writesin “The Truth About Cough Medicine: Does It Work Or Not?” that doctors are still prescribing cough medicine because “They believe that the parent will think that the doctor is not giving good care unless a prescription is given.”

So, he says, if honey will do, stick with it.

*Don’t give honey to a baby under a year of age. Farber says their guts aren’t able to process it.

Lauren Silverman was the Health, Science & Technology reporter/blogger at KERA News. She was also the primary backup host for KERA’s Think and the statewide newsmagazine  Texas Standard. In 2016, Lauren was recognized as Texas Health Journalist of the Year by the Texas Medical Association. She was part of the Peabody Award-winning team that covered Ebola for NPR in 2014. She also hosted "Surviving Ebola," a special that won Best Long Documentary honors from the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). And she's won a number of regional awards, including an honorable mention for Edward R. Murrow award (for her project “The Broken Hip”), as well as the Texas Veterans Commission’s Excellence in Media Awards in the radio category.