Condition
Respiratory Health
Respiratory health is how well your lungs and airways move oxygen and how well your immune defenses handle infections and irritants. The evidence is strongest for vitamin D and N-acetyl cysteine, and in a trial of a tyrothricin throat lozenge, more people with acute pharyngitis reached complete remission by 72 hours than on placebo. A study of about 5,700 people found no clear difference for vitamin D in lower respiratory infections.
Sources: PMID 23032549; PMID 30329199
- Supplements studied
- 10
- Medicines and peptides
- 3
- Graded outcomes
- 10
- Trials
- 6
- People studied
- 29,533
Evidence by supplement
- Strong
- Moderate
- Limited
- Very limited
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heart Rate Moderate Increase | Improves (the measure goes down) | Moderate effect | 4 studies | 40 people | ||
| Lung Function | Improves (the measure goes up) | 1 study | 32 people | |||
Studies that measured lung function | ||||||
| Metabolic Rate | Improves (the measure goes up) | 1 study | 8 people | |||
Studies that measured metabolic rate | ||||||
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Post-COVID Olfactory Recovery Systematic review and meta-analysis (5 studies, n=441): PEA+luteolin (CoUltraPEALut) combined with olfactory training showed superior olfactory recovery compared to olfactory training alone in patients with post-COVID olfactory dysfunction. | Improves (the measure goes up) | Moderate effect |
Resveratrol
- Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Risk
- Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Symptoms: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Risk No effect | NoneNo effect | 1 study | 39 people | |||
Studies that measured upper respiratory tract infection risk | ||||||
| Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Symptoms | Improves (the measure goes down) | 39 people | ||||
Shirazi thyme
- Cough
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cough No effect | NoneNo effect | 1 study | 394 people | |||
Vitamin D
- Lower Respiratory Tract Infection Risk
- Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Risk: changes; see studies
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Respiratory Tract Infection Risk No effect | NoneNo effect | 5,724 people | ||||
| Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Risk | Changes; see studies | 13 studies | 5,724 people | |||
Studies that measured upper respiratory tract infection risk
| ||||||
Vitamin C
- Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Symptoms: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Symptoms | Improves (the measure goes down) | 24 studies | 252 people | |||
Studies that measured upper respiratory tract infection symptoms | ||||||
Coleus forskohlii
- Asthma Symptoms: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asthma Symptoms | Improves (the measure goes down) | 2 studies | 12 people | |||
Black seed
- Lung Function: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lung Function | Improves (the measure goes up) | 2 studies | 40 people | |||
Studies that measured lung function | ||||||
Ginkgo Biloba
- 6-Minute Walking Test Performance: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6-Minute Walking Test Performance | Improves (the measure goes up) | 1 study | 134 people | |||
Studies that measured 6-minute walking test performance | ||||||
Vitamin A
- Pneumonia Symptoms: improves
- Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Risk
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pneumonia Symptoms | Improves (the measure goes down) | 1 study | 1,713 people | |||
Studies that measured pneumonia symptoms | ||||||
| Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Risk | Small effect | 554 people | ||||
Prescription medicines and peptides studied, for context
Tyrothricin
- Antimicrobial Resistance: improves
- Acute Pharyngitis: improves
- Oropharyngeal Infections: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antimicrobial Resistance Decade-long surveillance: No significant resistance development after 60+ years of clinical use. Multiple mechanisms in peptide mixture prevent single-step resistance. Unique resistance profile among antibiotics. | Improves (the measure goes up) | Large effect | 5 studies | |||
| Acute Pharyngitis DoriPha RCT (n=321): Tyrothricin/benzocaine/benzalkonium lozenges showed 64% improved complete remission vs placebo at 72 hours. Rapid analgesic effect. Effective for severe throat pain and difficulty swallowing. | Improves (the measure goes up) | Moderate effect | 4 studies | |||
| Oropharyngeal Infections Multiple lozenge products (Tyrozets, Lemocin, Dorithricin, Anginovag) for pharyngitis treatment. Combined with local anesthetics and antiseptics. Standard OTC sore throat therapy in many countries. | Improves (the measure goes up) | Moderate effect | 4 studies |
Gramicidin
- Sore Throat Symptoms: changes; see studies
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sore Throat Symptoms Systematic review: Limited evidence for topical antibiotics in sore throat. Gramicidin lozenges used historically. Double-blind study (n=468): Gramicidin/cetylpyridinium combination tested. Evidence quality remains low. | Changes; see studies | Small effect | 6 studies |
Plitidepsin (Aplidin)
- COVID-19 Antiviral Activity: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 Antiviral Activity In vitro and animal models: Significant reductions in SARS-CoV-2 viral load and pulmonary inflammation. Mechanism via eEF1A2 inhibition blocking viral replication. Clinical trials for COVID-19 application. | Improves (the measure goes up) | Moderate effect | 3 studies |
Key findings
- Heart RateImproves (the measure goes down)
- Post-COVID Olfactory RecoveryImproves (the measure goes up)
- Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Risk
The Respiratory Health General Support protocol
2 primary supplements · 7 supporting supplements
- Vitamin D2,000–4,000 IU daily (target 40–60 ng/mL)
- N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC)600–1,200 mg twice daily
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Studies cited
100 studies from PubMed
- Lipid Composition of Nanocarriers Shapes Interactions of Cyclic Antimicrobial Peptide Gramicidin S with Their Membranes.
- Discovery of a potent ornithine-modified gramicidin S analogue against drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis with minimal red blood cell toxicity.
- Machine-Learning Approach to Increase the Potency and Overcome the Hemolytic Toxicity of Gramicidin S.
- Marine-Derived Compounds: A New Horizon in Cancer, Renal, and Metabolic Disease Therapeutics.
- Targeting eEF1A reprograms translation and uncovers broad-spectrum antivirals against cap or m(6)A protein synthesis routes.
- Functional characteristics of plitidepsin as an antiviral treatment against monkeypox virus infection.
- Can plitidepsin be used as an antiviral against RSV?
- Effect of vitamin D supplementation for major adverse cardiovascular events: a meta-analysis based on randomised controlled trials.
- Modifying Membranotropic Action of Antimicrobial Peptide Gramicidin S by Star-like Polyacrylamide and Lipid Composition of Nanocontainers.
- A New Gramicidin S Analogue with Potent Antibacterial Activity and Negligible Hemolytic Toxicity.
- Luteolin Is More Potent than Cromolyn in Their Ability to Inhibit Mediator Release from Cultured Human Mast Cells
- Luteolin: A promising multifunctional natural flavonoid for human diseases
- Luteolin for neurodegenerative diseases: a review
- Plitidepsin as an Immunomodulator against Respiratory Viral Infections.
- Potential anxiolytic and antidepressant-like effects of luteolin in a chronic constriction injury rat model of neuropathic pain: Role of oxidative stress, neurotrophins, and inflammatory factors
- Outcomes and clinical characteristics of the compassionate use of plitidepsin for immunocompromised adult patients with COVID-19.
- Luteolin reduces fear, anxiety, and depression in rats with post-traumatic stress disorder
- Unraveling the antiviral activity of plitidepsin against SARS-CoV-2 by subcellular and morphological analysis.
- Marine Cyclic Peptides: Antimicrobial Activity and Synthetic Strategies.
- Electrospun fibers loaded with antimicrobial peptides for treatment of wound infections.
- Neuroprotective effects of flavone luteolin in neuroinflammation and neurotrauma
- Plitidepsin: Mechanisms and Clinical Profile of a Promising Antiviral Agent against COVID-19.
- Effects of Nigella sativa on glycemic control, lipid profiles, and biomarkers of inflammatory and oxidative stress: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials
- Efficacy of topical drugs in the treatment of patients with acute inflammatory diseases of the pharynx
- Plitidepsin to treat multiple myeloma
- Generation of endoplasmic reticulum stress and inhibition of autophagy by plitidepsin induces proteotoxic apoptosis in cancer cells.
- Topical (local) antibiotics for respiratory infections with sore throat: An antibiotic stewardship perspective
- The Multifaceted Antibacterial Mechanisms of the Pioneering Peptide Antibiotics Tyrocidine and Gramicidin S
- Gramicidin Lateral Distribution in Phospholipid Membranes: Fluorescence Phasor Plots and Statistical Mechanical Model.
- Luteolin as an anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective agent: A brief review
- Efficacy and safety of a triple active sore throat lozenge in the treatment of patients with acute pharyngitis: Results of a multi-centre, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group trial (DoriPha)
- Plitidepsin: design, development, and potential place in therapy
- Structure, toxicity and antibiotic activity of gramicidin S and derivatives.
- Tyrothricin--An underrated agent for the treatment of bacterial skin infections and superficial wounds?
- Chitosan-Based Film of Tyrothricin for Enhanced Antimicrobial Activity against Common Skin Pathogens Including Staphylococcus aureus.
- Reduction of Inflammatory and Noninflammatory Lesions with Topical Tyrothricin 0.1% in the Treatment of Mild to Severe Acne Papulopustulosa: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.
- Evaluation of plitidepsin in patients with primary myelofibrosis and post polycythemia vera/essential thrombocythemia myelofibrosis: results of preclinical studies and a phase II clinical trial.
- Decade-long use of the antimicrobial peptide combination tyrothricin does not pose a major risk of acquired resistance with gram-positive bacteria and Candida spp
- Vitamin D3 supplementation does not modify cardiovascular risk profile of adults with inadequate vitamin D status
- Nano-encapsulation of plitidepsin: in vivo pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and efficacy in a renal xenograft tumor model.
- An open-label pilot study of a formulation containing the anti-inflammatory flavonoid luteolin and its effects on behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders
- Luteolin inhibits mast cell-mediated allergic inflammation
- Resveratrol Blunts the Positive Effects of Exercise Training on Cardiovascular Health in Aged Men
- Polycationic gramicidin S analogues with both high antibiotic activity and very low hemolytic activity.
- 'Inverted' analogs of the antibiotic gramicidin S with an improved biological profile.
- Plitidepsin has a safe cardiac profile: a comprehensive analysis
- CXCR4-independent rescue of the myeloproliferative defect of the Gata1low myelofibrosis mouse model by Aplidin.
- Association of A1C levels with vitamin D status in U.S. adults: data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
- Gramicidin S and polymyxins: the revival of cationic cyclic peptide antibiotics
- Optimization of antimicrobial drug gramicidin S dosing regime using biosimulations.
- Phase II study of weekly plitidepsin as second-line therapy for small cell lung cancer.
- Population pharmacokinetics meta-analysis of plitidepsin (Aplidin) in cancer subjects.
- Phase II randomized study of Plitidepsin (Aplidin), alone or in association with L-carnitine, in patients with unresectable advanced renal cell carcinoma.
- Interaction of gramicidin S and its aromatic amino-acid analog with phospholipid membranes.
- Luteolin inhibits myelin basic protein-induced human mast cell activation and mast cell-dependent stimulation of Jurkat T cells
- Phase II study of plitidepsin in pretreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
- Phase I clinical and pharmacokinetic study of plitidepsin as a 1-hour weekly intravenous infusion in patients with advanced solid tumors.
- Plitidepsin has a dual effect inhibiting cell cycle and inducing apoptosis via Rac1/c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase activation in human melanoma cells
- Proteomic analysis of the resistance to aplidin in human cancer cells.
- Aplidin synergizes with cytosine arabinoside: functional relevance of mitochondria in Aplidin-induced cytotoxicity.
- Gateways to clinical trials.
- Inhibition of malaria parasite blood stages by tyrocidines, membrane-active cyclic peptide antibiotics from Bacillus brevis
- Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, ethnicity, and blood pressure in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
- Beta-turn modified gramicidin S analogues containing arylated sugar amino acids display antimicrobial and hemolytic activity comparable to the natural product.
- Oxidation and inactivation of low molecular weight protein tyrosine phosphatase by the anticancer drug Aplidin.
- Aplidin induces JNK-dependent apoptosis in human breast cancer cells via alteration of glutathione homeostasis, Rac1 GTPase activation, and MKP-1 phosphatase downregulation.
- Induction of resistance to Aplidin in a human ovarian cancer cell line related to MDR expression.
- Plitidepsin has a cytostatic effect in human undifferentiated (anaplastic) thyroid carcinoma.
- Interaction of gramicidin derivatives with phospholipid monolayers.
- The efficacy and safety of topical polymyxin B, neomycin and gramicidin for treatment of presumed bacterial corneal ulceration
- Structure-activity relationships of de novo designed cyclic antimicrobial peptides based on gramicidin S
- [Structural and functional characteristics of gramicidin S in connection with its antibiotic activity].
- Aplidin induces apoptosis in human cancer cells via glutathione depletion and sustained activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor, Src, JNK, and p38 MAPK.
- In vitro cytotoxicity of aplidin and crossresistance with other cytotoxic drugs in childhood leukemic and normal bone marrow and blood samples: a rational basis for clinical development.
- Reduction of rise in blood pressure and cortisol release during stress by Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) in healthy volunteers
- Membrane-bound structure and alignment of the antimicrobial beta-sheet peptide gramicidin S derived from angular and distance constraints by solid state 19F-NMR.
- The interaction of the antimicrobial peptide gramicidin S with lipid bilayer model and biological membranes
- Syntheses and antibacterial activities of gramicidin S analogs containing L-ornithine in place of L-valine.
- Kinetics of gramicidin channel formation in lipid bilayers: transmembrane monomer association.
- Antibiotics and endodontics.
- Mode of antibacterial action by gramicidin S.
- Influence of vitamin C supplementation on oxidative and immune changes after an ultramarathon
- In vitro antibacterial activity of gramicidin and tyrothricin.
- [Antiviral activity of tyrothricin against Sendai virus in suspension tests (author's transl)].
- Biosynthesis of peptide antibiotics.
- Peptide antibiotics.
- Utilization of gramicidin dragee in throat inflammation and tonsillitis
- ANTIBIOTICS. VI. Neomycin, polymyxin B, bacitracin and tyrothricin.
- Gramicidin S; relationship of cyclic structure to antibiotic activity.
- Tyrothricin as an antibiotic.
- Tyrothricin, a review of selected literature on the subject.
- Effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of powdered Nigella sativa (kalonji) seed in capsules on serum lipid levels, blood sugar, blood pressure, and body weight in adults: results of a randomized, double-blind controlled trial
- Antihypertensive effects of Nigella sativa supplementation: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
- Endothelial Function Responses to Nigella sativa (Black Seed) Supplementation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
- The effect of Nigella sativa Linn. seed on memory, attention and cognition in healthy human volunteers
- Efficacy of Nigella sativa on serum free testosterone and metabolic disturbances in central obese male
- Potential adjuvant effects of Nigella sativa seeds to improve specific immunotherapy in allergic rhinitis patients
- Effect of Nigella sativa (black seed) on subjective feeling in patients with allergic diseases
- Herbal treatment of allergic rhinitis: the use of Nigella sativa
- Clinical evaluation of Nigella sativa seeds for the treatment of hyperlipidemia: a randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial