RESEARCH Water works for kids' cough

TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL
A glass of water will do as much to relieve a child's cough as an expensive, over-the-counter cough syrup, a new study suggests.
The research, published in the medical journal Pediatrics, concludes that parents who treat a child's nighttime cough with the widely available medications are wasting their money.
Ingredients
About 95 percent of syrups, including the best-selling brands Benylin DM and Robitussin, have dextromethorphan as their active ingredient. It is an expectorant, meaning it is supposed to clear the respiratory tract of phlegm and make breathing easier. Other cough syrups contain diphenhydramine, an antihistamine, designed to reduce swelling in the respiratory tract.
To conduct the study, researchers recruited 100 children with upper-respiratory-tract infections who had been coughing for an average of more than three days.
The children were given one of three treatments 30 minutes before bedtime: A cough syrup containing dextromethorphan, a cough syrup containing diphenhydramine or a placebo syrup.
Placebo was best
Children in all three groups showed a dramatic reduction in cough frequency, but those taking the placebo -- essentially flavored water -- had the best results. On four other measures, the three treatments had virtually identical outcomes.