I just saw this product at a travel website and wondered if anyone has ever used anything like it. It is a nasal spray that is a mixture of tumeric, spearmint and water designed to create "an unsuitable environment for inhaled germs to reproduce." I'm skeptical but am always looking for something that will help me avoid the sniffles & such that I pick up when flying.

Thanks

I have heard of a product called Airborne that is suppose to be the latest,greatest thing out there for fighting colds early on and can also be taken as a preventative measure, but it is hard to come by-they cannot keep the shelves stocked.

If you live near a Trader Joe's, I always see Airborne at the check out.

Thanks for your quick replies.

I'm always looking for new things to keep down the sniffles!

Some drug store carry Airborne now too, it seems to really work.

And stay out of moldy hotels!!!

I have seen Airborne at Walgreen's recently as well at my local Kroger.

I found Air Defense Nasal spray formerly called Airborne Response. All the Airborne I can find now are lozenges

To avoid colds, wash hands frequently and don't touch your face. I've tried some of this stuff and it's hype as far as I'm concerned.

Now, as for "No Jet Lag" herbal pills, I'm all for that one! Psychological or whatever, we haven't suffered w/jet lag since using that.

I've used Airborne dissolving tablets for flights in the past and they worked wuite well fore me. I usually end up with a sore throat after a flight, as I usually get the coughing seatmate from hell by luck of the draw. Since I've been using the Airborne the past 3 years I haven't been sick after any flights, and I travel at least once per month by plane. It's available at Trader Joe's and some drugstores, but the web address is: www.airbornehealth.com

Good luck!

Oooh apologies all around folks! My fingers went spastic for a minute there. Typo-city!

don't know about your spray, but turmeric is yellow and stains horribly. It is an effective topical antibiotic though.

I usually catch a cold on my March or Feb flights to Italy even with my hand washing and hand cleaner.
But twice I have used a Saline nasal spray (available in Drugstores) which I believe is just salt water and didn't get a cold.
I'm beginning to believe that keeping the nasal passages moist really does work. The recycled air in the plane does dry these passages out and keep the germs circulating. Regards, Walter

Flight Spray is a new product produced by a Maui, Hawaii based company called Bioponic Phytoceuticals. See www.flightspray.com for more info. The product is made from pure natural Turmeric root and Spearmint, hydrodistilled, and is clear and non-staining. It is remarkably effective and can be used as often as desired. It uses a process called "bioresonant phytotherapeutics". I use it everytime I travel and it keeps me healthy and well hydrated especially during long flights. It tastes, smells and feels great, and comes in an easy to use spray pump. Highly recommended.

I really hate to throw cold water on this but despite the known positive antibiotic effects of Tumeric it is not, and never really has been shown to be any sort of effective anti-viral..and since colds are caused by viruses, this becomes an important issue.

Travelnut understands the epidemiology of cold viruses perfectly; people self-inncoulate the mucous membranes of their nose/eyes through hand transmission. Unless someone is sneezing directly in your face on the plane, the fact that one "cuaght a cold" probably had more to do with the contamination of their hands by touching a surface and then self-innoculating.

Does anyone honestly believe in this current dog-eat-dog world of pharmaceutical research and marketing that if a Tumeric-based product were truly effective at preventing colds we wouldn;t have been absolutely innundated with these products from major pharmaceutical houses?

How many people fly and don't ever catch a cold? Probably hundreds of thousands. How many use Tumeric-based products and don't catch a cold anyway...probably the same number but if you use it and you think it works, hey, it's your money and well-being..and perhaps money well-spent.

Airborne is available in most pharmacies, as is plain saline solution. Another good one is Tea Tree Oil - Bath & Body sells this tiny bottle for about $7. There's also Boroleum, which has been around for years - an ointment with the scent kind of like eucalyptis.

All of these have worked for me - more to keep the breathing path breathing... never been bothered by sniffles or colds.

Don't you just love these controlled, scientifically controlled experiments?

I could believe that spraying some moist stuff into one's nose could release in a nice smell, and perhaps, theoretically, moistening of mucus membranes that might result in a greater resistance to infection. But the rest of the stuff in there wouldn't do any good. The phrase "bioresonant phytotherapeutics" is ridiculous. I think that drinking a lot and staying well hydrated would be a far better way to keep one's mucus membranes moist. Air travel can be very dehydrating.

I looked on the Airborne website to see what's in the stuff, and it seems to contain various herbs that either haven't been shown to have any benefit or are present in insufficient quantities to have any benefit, as well as various vitamins and amino acids that wouldn't do any good. And zinc, which has been shown to shorten the duration of colds and lessen their severity, if taken shortly after onset of symptoms. But I think it doesn't work as well when taken along with vitamin C, of which there is quite a bit in the Airborne tablets.

I think the best approach is to stay well hydrated and wash your hands before touching your face, as Intrepid1 suggested. I would disagree that auto-inoculation is the only way to contract an upper respiratory infection on a plane, as airborne droplets in a closed environment like that would be a route of infection even if you never did wipe your nose or eyes. I've sometimes moved to get farther away from a coughing or sneezing person, although I guess the low air turnover rate in a plane probably makes even that a less effective strategy.

Be clear that the pharmaceutical industry isn't interested in anything that doesn't have huge margins from some proprietary technology in it that they own. There are hundreds of traditional remedies that really work that the pill houses ignore totally. I don't know about Airborne, but I wouldn't be surprised if it works. Wash your hands (hand cleaners are good), and keep them away from your face.

Aircraft cabins aren't sealed tubes. The air is turned over every few minutes. Listen at the door seals some time, and you will hear a hissing sound caused by escaping air. This air is constantly being replenished by the pressurizing system.

Like ParadiseLost, I also have had good results using a saline nasal spray. IN the past, I would get sinus infections or bad colds almost every time I took a plane trip. My doctor suggested the saline spray. One of the brand names is Ocean, but I usually get the Walgreens or Target brand because it is cheaper. I spray a couple of times in each nostril every hour or two. Haven't gotten a sinus infection since I started this.