Drop Cough medicines and go for traditional home made remedies with lemon or honey- Doctors

NHS bosses and leading GPs approve the traditional home made remedies with lemon or honey for cough. 

Cough medicines, which usually cost between £3 and £5 for a small bottle, are part of an over-the-counter healthcare industry worth £3 billion a year.

But the NHS Choices website advises: 'There's little evidence to suggest cough medicines actually work, although some ingredients may help treat symptoms associated with a cough, such as a blocked nose or fever.'

The webpage adds that the 'simplest and cheapest' treatment for a 'short-term cough' may be a homemade remedy containing lemon and honey.

It continues: 'There's no quick way of getting rid of a cough caused by a viral infection. It will usually clear up after your immune system has fought off the virus.'

Dr Tim Ballard, vice chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, today backed up the NHS claim.

He said: 'The medical evidence behind cough medicines is weak and there is no evidence to say that they will reduce the duration of illnesses - as such, GPs are unlikely to prescribe them.'

A Which? investigation two years ago said found many popular cough medicines do not work as well as they claim to.

The report authors concluded that studies used to support the claims of effectiveness are often low quality.

Many also contain high doses of sugar, with one week of the adult maximum dose of a popular product containing as much sugar as five Mars bars.

The Proprietary Association of Great Britain, a national trade association representing the consumer healthcare industry, released a statement after Benylin was contacted for a comment.

It said: 'Cough medicines will not "cure" a cough, but they can help relieve the symptoms.

'The key to effective management of cough is to identify the most troublesome symptom and to choose an appropriate product.