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How do I Choose the Best Cough Lozenges?

By Luke Arthur
Updated May 17, 2024
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One of the most important aspects of choosing the best cough lozenges is reading the ingredients. By checking out what is in the ingredients, you can reduce the likelihood of consuming something that is not good for you and increase the likelihood of eliminating the cough. You should look for ingredients such as menthol, zinc, or honey in the cough drops. You should check customer satisfaction ratings online and then eventually try out some of the cough lozenges yourself.

There are many different brands of cough lozenges available today. All of them have different flavors, different active ingredients, and different levels of effectiveness. In order to choose the proper cough lozenges for you, you need to read the label and do a fair amount of research about the product.

When looking at a particular brand of cough lozenges, you should see what the ingredients are in the lozenges. You want to look for ingredients that could potentially be unhealthy for you. For example, you may want to avoid treatments which use high-fructose corn syrup.

In addition to looking for harmful ingredients, you should pay attention to the active ingredient in the cough drop. Many of these products use menthol as the active ingredient while others prefer to use zinc. You could even choose a cough drop which has honey in it to soothe the throat. Choose a cough drop that has an active ingredient that is to your preference.

Zinc cough drops have been shown to help shorten the amount of time it takes to heal. By taking zinc cough drops, you could potentially cut down on the number of days you are experiencing symptoms. Menthol cough drops are also good because they soothe the throat and help eliminate the coughing overall.

You may also want to look for cough lozenges that have an ingredient in them that helps with soar throats. Several cough drops not only help stop coughs, but they also relieve the throat pain that comes with it. Many of these products will help numb the throat so the pain is minimal.

You should also go online and read some of the customer satisfaction ratings of these products. Many times, customers will rate their experiences with a product so you can avoid choosing a bad one. Ultimately, you should try one of the products for yourself and make the final decision.

WiseGEEK is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.

Discussion Comments

By burcinc — On Apr 08, 2014

There are actually many different types of lozenges out there and they don't all contain medications.

I get sick frequently and I have tried many different cough lozenges for sore, painful throat and coughing. The one that has worked best so far contains antiseptics called dichlorobenzyl and amylmetacresol. These relieve my throat and cough symptoms in just a few days. I'm very impressed with them.

By stoneMason — On Apr 07, 2014

Lozenges work great but they are very strong and some of them have a lot of menthol which I'm not too fond of. However I still use them when I'm very sick and the regular cough drops are not helping.

The kind I use does not have any numbing ingredients, it just has a lot of eucalyptus. It's great for clearing up congestion though. I have a friend who actually uses the same lozenges to relieve her asthma symptoms. She says that they help her breathe.

By donasmrs — On Apr 07, 2014

I bought cough lozenges yesterday for the first time. I have an extremely sore throat and a chronic cough. I have diabetes so I can only use sugar free lozenges. And the grocery store only had two types of sugar free lozenges available so I didn't have many options. I bought the one that was slightly cheaper but it seems to be working fine. It numbs my throat and relieves pain.

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