Summer should be filled with carefree days enjoying the beach, camping or hitting the road. But it can also be a time when people develop coughs, especially if they are travelling or attending the season’s many concerts and festivals.
Despite being more common in winter, summer coughs do occur, says Ontario-based pharmacist Sherry Torkos.
“The reason we don’t have as many cold and flu episodes during the summer months is because we are spending more time outdoors in the fresh air and windows are open, but it still does happen and it’s good to be prepared because it can be miserable to have a summer cough.”
Torkos says bad coughs have been particularly prevalent in spring 2023. The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that several respiratory viruses were moving through the population since the pandemic has waned.
“A lot of the viruses that have been circulating the past couple of months have been causing these horrendous coughs so people who are getting sick are getting these post-viral coughs that are lasting for weeks that are miserable,” Torkos says.
Torkos recommends keeping a cough medicine such as Prospan by Helixia (for adults) and Prospan by Helixia Kids (recommended for children ages one to 11) in the medicine cabinet, even in summer months.
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“I’ve taken it myself and given it to my son because I prefer to go natural as much as possible,” says Torkos of the plant-based cough syrup, which contains EA 575 dried ivy leaf extract. While there are other ivy leaf products on the market, Prospan by Helixia products are the only ones in Canada to contain this specific type of ivy leaf extract, adds Francois Leblond, senior brand manager, Norwell Consumer Healthcare, which licenses the product in Canada.
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Ivy leaf has been promoted for its healing properties for thousands of years. One of its first known uses was by the ancient Greeks in the time of Hippocrates, who was known as the “Father of Medicine.” Hippocrates, whose holistic approach toward medicine included the use of many plants and herbs to heal various aliments, also discovered that ivy leaf helped ease a number of conditions.
But what exactly does the extract do? It thins the sticky mucus in the lungs, which in turn helps patients cough up the mucus more easily, says Torkos. The pharmacist says our bodies create this substance as a natural response to a virus, bacteria or allergen. And when mucus is trapped in airways, it triggers the cough reflex. “It can be annoying and persistent,” she notes.
Patients often seek relief in the form of expectorants, she says. But increasingly, people are searching for natural health products and Prospan by Helixia and Prospan by Helixia Kids fit that bill. It’s important to note, she says, that it is a natural, and not homeopathic, medicine. The only active ingredient in the cough syrup is Hedera helix (EA 575), which is a natural expectorant.
The pharmacist has found the use of plant-based medicine has been increasing in North America in the past 20 years and more pharmacies are stocking plant-based products. She has had more adult customers, as well as parents, seeking products like Prospan by Helixia, which contains no dyes, no alcohols, no gluten, and no sucrose. Being sucrose-free makes the syrup safe for people with diabetes.
Additionally, says Torkos, unlike many over-the-counter cough remedies, Prospan by Helixia products contain no decongestants.
“The issue, especially for kids, when you start giving them cough syrups that have things like decongestants in them, it effects their behaviour. It makes them hyper. There’s sugar and dye in a lot of these.” Often, she says, coughs are worse in the evening, so it’s important to help a child relieve a cough while reducing the risk of hyperactivity.
READ MORE: Nighttime coughing? Here’s what you should and shouldn’t do
Syrups containing decongestants can also keep patients awake at night, because decongestants are stimulants, she says. And they can be dangerous for adults with high blood pressure.
“This is a clean product,” says Torkos. Both the adult and children’s version contain the same medicinal ingredient (EA 575 ivy leaf extract), but the adult version contains a higher amount of the extract.
While Prospan by Helixa products are naturally sourced, they are also the only ivy-leaf-based products on the market in Canada whose medicinal ingredient (EA 575) has been proven to be effective in clinical studies, says Leblond. In fact, the product has been through 18 clinical studies, including a total of 65,000 patients, he notes.
Prospan by Helixia is also the only ivy leaf extract-based product approved for use by Health Canada for people with chronic bronchitis.
“The benefits are unique,” Leblond says.
Leblond says while Prospan by Helixia and Prospan by Helixia Kids have been available over-the-counter at Canadian pharmacies for about 10 years, they have been used and trusted in Europe for more than 70 years.
Another great benefit for kids and adults? The syrup comes in a honey flavour, with an additional menthol version for adults.
“It tastes like honey while not containing honey,” says Leblond, who has given the product to his own children, who enjoy the taste.
“It’s anti-bad face,” says the father of four.
Canadians looking for a natural solution to combat coughs without side effects that trigger drowsiness, diabetes, gluten allergy, insomnia can turn to Prospan by Helixia.