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Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Risk

Upper respitatory tract infections (URTIs) are sicknesses that mostly affect the lung and breathing capacities, and is the cause of many cold symptoms. Supplements that reduce the risk of developing URTIs are said to promote immunity.

Kamal
Research analysis lead by Kamal Patel
All content reviewed by Examine.com Team. Published:
Last Updated:

Things To Know & Note

Also Known As

URTI, URTI risk

Caution Notice

Examine.com Medical Disclaimer

Human Effect Matrix

The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect upper respiratory tract infection risk
Grade Level of Evidence
Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials
Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies
Uncontrolled or observational studies only
Level of Evidence
? The amount of high quality evidence. The mo re evidence, the more we can trust the results.
Outcome Magnitude of effect
? The direction and size of the supplement's impact on each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
Consistency of research results
? Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
Notes
grade-a Echinacea Notable High See all 11 studies
The reduction in rate of sickness seen with echinacea as a daily supplement is highly effective in some instances, but subject to a high degree of variability. It is notable due to it being a comparator.
grade-c Andrographis paniculata Minor - See study
Appears to be better than placebo, although it is difficult to assess potency.
grade-c Colostrum Minor - See all 3 studies
There may be a minor reduction in the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) seen with colostrum, although more evidence is needed to confirm this activity as current trials are usually underpowered.
grade-c Garlic Minor - See study
There appears to be a reduction in the lung infection risks with garlic supplementation.
grade-c Vitamin E  
grade-c Lactobacillus reuteri  
grade-c Vitamin C  
grade-c Vitamin D  
grade-c Zinc  
grade-d Lactobacillus casei  
grade-d Polypodium leucotomos  

All comparative evidence is now gathered in our ​A-to-Z Supplement Reference.

The evidence for each separate supplement is still freely available ​here.

This page is regularly updated, to include the most recently available clinical trial evidence.

Each member of our research team is required to have no conflicts of interest, including with supplement manufacturers, food companies, and industry funders. The team includes nutrition researchers, registered dietitians, physicians, and pharmacists. We have a strict editorial process.

This page features 0 references. All factual claims are followed by specifically-applicable references. Click here to see the full set of references for this page.

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