Features Fruit Production
Fruit, vegetable product shrinks cold symptoms

January 18, 2011 –
Researchers at Charité University Medicine Berlin were the first to show that a
specific food supplement made from fruit and vegetable juice concentrates
significantly reduced the number of days with severe cold symptoms.

January 18, 2011 –
Researchers at Charité University Medicine Berlin are the first to show that a
specific food supplement made from fruit and vegetable juice concentrates
significantly reduced the number of days with severe cold symptoms.

The report published in
the British Journal of Nutrition sees the potential benefits of the product in
a reduced number of sick days and correspondingly lower expenditure on cold
medicines.

Researchers from the
Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, in cooperation
with more than 500 employees of the Charité, as test participants, carried out
an eight month study on the effects of the preparation Juice Plus+® , from the
U.S. supplier NSA from Collierville, TN. In a randomized double-blind study,
half the subjects took the drug daily, while the other half received a placebo.
After just two months the results showed that the number of colds in both
groups was equal. However, in the group that received the drug, the colds were
much milder. As a result, there was a decrease of moderate and severe cold
symptoms of about 20 per cent.

The question of whether
the product is suitable for prolonged use, to reduce the severity of symptoms
and the incidence of colds further, could be the subject of future studies of
Juice Plus+ according to the authors. Also unclear is the specific mode of
action of the preparation.

“The results of the study
are certainly encouraging because they show that certain dietary supplements
may mitigate the burdens and consequences of the common cold,” said Professor
Stefan Willich, director of the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and
Health Economics of Charité and head of the study.

The neutrality of the
study was ensured by the fact that as a sponsor of the study, no study data
were transmitted to the manufacturer of the preparation and they were also not
involved in the interpretation of the study results.