Saskatchewan's favourite home remedies: effective or placebo?

With changing temperatures and melting snow comes the inevitable flu season and anendless supply of teas, honey and tissues.

Everyone seems to have their own swear-by recipe, but do they actually work?

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Keren Landman, a physician with training in infectious disease, said that someof these home remedies can't be provenby science but that doesn't mean they might not provide some relief.

Listeners on CBC'sBlue Sky called in to share their favourite remedies.

Favourite remedies

• Honey
  "Honey has been studied in treating common colds and it looks like there might be some benefit,"Landman said.Honey is also relatively affordable and studies have shown that it helps people sleep through the night.
• Tea
  "What we think it does is, it dilates the blood vessels in the area,"Landman said. This makes it easier for immunecells to get to the viruses that are causing the problem.
• Salt
  "I suspect itmighthave an additional, to be technical about it, mucolyticeffect where it thins out the mucus," Landman said. "Maybe even above what a warm water gargle might do."
• Vitamin C
  "That's another area that's actually been studied," Landman said. "For treating colds, it doesn't actually seem to have strong benefits. But for preventing colds, especially people who are outside or very active, there does seem to be some preventative effect.

Landman said that there is no harm in trying cost-effective remedies, as long as there are no side effects to worry about.