If you’re battling a cold or allergies, your first thought might be to purchase a decongestant to treat your symptoms. Many people swear by over-the-counter medications like Sudafed PE and DayQuil, which contain an active ingredient called phenylephrine.
According to Medicine Plus, phenylephrine is used to relieve nasal discomfort, sinus congestion, and pressure. However, the FDA has recently announced that phenylephrine is actually not effective for its intended use. As a result, the administration proposed ending the use of the ingredient in over-the-counter nasal decongestants.
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“It is the FDA’s role to ensure that drugs are safe and effective,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). “Based on our review of available data, and consistent with the advice of the advisory committee, we are taking this next step in the process to propose removing oral phenylephrine because it is not effective as a nasal decongestant.”
Your Go-To Cold Meds Might Just Be a Placebo
However, many people swear by phenylephrine. So…does that mean its alleged impacts are just a placebo? Possibly.
In fact, one 2016 study actually found that phenylephrine and a placebo pill had the same effect on participants.
“Here you have a drug that people have taken for years, a drug that people really feel like works,” said Michael Bernstein, experimental psychologist at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. “And it does work”—via our belief in it.
If you don’t want to rely on a placebo effect when it comes to your health, however, there are other options on the market to treat cold-like symptoms.
“Consumers should know that a range of safe and effective drugs and other treatments is available to temporarily relieve congestion symptoms due to allergies or a common cold,” said Theresa Michele, M.D., director of the Office of Nonprescription Drug Products in CDER. “Consumers can also talk to their doctor or pharmacist about ways to treat these symptoms.”
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