Comments on: Airborne’s Legal Remedy: Nothing to Sneeze At

By: Elrod

Elrod — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:09:01 +0000

The ingredients in Airborne are not substantially different from those in a competing product, Emergen-C. I’ve compared them side by side, and the major difference is Airborne’s inclusion of Vitamin A. Aside from that, if you’re taking B-Complex and Vitamin E you’re pretty much even.

Emergen-C doesn’t make wild claims, or put forth fluff about how it was “developed by a school teacher” yada yada. On the packet’s front it includes the standard disclaimer (asterisk provided) to its one bit of hype, “Super Energy Booster.” “Not evaluated by the FDA, not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”

Those of us who take vitamins and supplements generally know what works for us and what doesn’t. For instance, echinacea has been widely poo-pooed by the medical and drug establishments, but I can guarantee you it’s worked for me time and time again. Ditto golden seal powder, ginseng and comfrey. But that’s me, and nobody’s hyped me into taking (or over-spending for)those remedies.

If nothing else, the lesson in Airborne’s over-zealous marketing, and subsequent dope slap by the FTC, is that unconventional treatments and remedies always run the risk of being challenged by those with competing dollar interests. (Though CSPI could hardly be considered “Big Pharma.”) That being said, it’s ridiculous to overpay for something like Airborne (10 tabs for ~$7) when you can by an 80-packet box of Emergen-C at Costco for 15 bucks.

By: scir91 from YouTube

scir91 from YouTube — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:19:36 +0000

this stuff works if cycled on and off. if you keep using it, your body gets used to the ingredients’ potency

By: Believer

Believer — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:56:14 +0000

I have taken airborne with great results. At the first sign of a cold, strange feeling or throat tickle I take it. The cold either never takes hold, or if it does the symptoms are either very mild or the majority of them absent. It may be the zinc and ecchinacea in the product, whatever it is, it is no placebo and works great for me.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:56:36 +0000

Thanks for the business lesson Tom. It’s good thing we have the FDA watching over us or we could be getting prescription drugs that lead to increased heart attacks and strokes or adult medicines designed and marketed towards children. It’s also a good thing that companies with deep pockets can’t get their products steam-rolled through “mandated” testing either…but don’t take it from me, I’m just a complainer. I never use my buying power as a way to show my support, or lack there of, for products and services.

By: Kyralessa

Kyralessa — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:34:30 +0000

It’s simple: If it doesn’t have the “drug information” box, it’s not a real drug. That is, it hasn’t been approved by the FDA, and there’s no evidence (unless you’re fond of “anecdotal evidence”) that it works. It should have something like this:

http://www.intelihealth.com/i/L/Label.gif

If it’s not a real drug, it’ll have something like this instead:

http://www.remediesdirect.com/media/headers-disclaimer.jpg