Nutrition is an effective way to fight off the common cold

• Impossible to pronounce but worth considering as an adjunct therapy.
• O-sill-o-cox-see-num is an over-the-counter homeopathic medicine made from wild duck heart and liver.
• It should be taken within the first 24 hours of symptoms.
• New research suggests the compound found in cranberries stops or reduces the ability of the flu virus to stick to cells and infect them.
• Switch to iced or hot tea during cold and flu season.
• Tea contains antioxidants and polyphenols that help boost the immune system.
• Both black tea and green tea are good.
• If you drink, make it red wine.
• The antioxidant resveratrol, long touted for its cardiac benefits and anticancer properties, also may be able to ward off the flu.
• "Rather than directly attacking the flu virus itself, resveratrol seems to block host-cell functions that are essential for viral replication," according to the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
• Resveratrol also is found in grapes, raisins and peanuts.
• Not only could it keep people away from you - a good idea during a pandemic - but aged garlic extract also has been shown to provide protection from the common cold and flu.