Now, I am well aware that aspirin comes from willow bark and indeed nearly all of our pharmocopia is derived from plants. Friends who know me know that I have no trouble with self-medication with certain plant materials. But when I have flu I don't want to have to pay $25 for some pills that contain nothing stronger than 'garlic oil'.

I almost bought a pack of these quack-pills because they came in Day and Night forms, leaving me with the impression that the Day ones would give me some energy to get through the day and the Night ones would allow me to escape the nausea and aches and knock me out for 10 hours or so. Closer inspection revealed that these pills (which come in 'Cold and flu', 'acute flu', 'cold and congestion' and just plain 'flu' varieties) contain nothing but Zinc, echinacea, valerian, garlic oil(!) and pixie dust. The difference between Day and Night formulations? The Day ones didn't have valerian in them. As far as I know these ingredients have not been subjected to proper double blind trials and rigorous scientific study as to their beneficial effects, unlike say paracetemol. But the hand-waving yoghurt-weavers will bore you to tears about how echinacea is SOOO effective at 'boosting' the immune system and their granny took them for years and could bench press a cow well into her seventies. To which I would reply:"What exactly do you mean by 'boosting the immune system' - show me some evidence of increased antibody count or an increase in average neutrophil and eosinophil count in a controlled study. Oh and by the way, the plural of anecdote is NOT data"