FDA宣布常用鼻塞药无效(上)

Hi, this is Your Health, Quickly, a Scientific American podcast series!

大家好，欢迎来到《科学美国人》播客系列《健康快讯》!

We bring you the latest vital health news: Discoveries that affect your body and your mind.

我们将为大家带来最新健康要闻：影响人们身心健康的发现。

And we break down the medical research to help you stay healthy.

我们将分析医学研究，帮助大家保持健康。

I’m Tanya Lewis. I’m Josh Fischman. We’re Scientific American’s senior health editors.

我是谭雅·刘易斯。我是乔希·费什曼。我们是《科学美国人》的高级健康编辑。

Today, we’re talking about decongestants.

今天，我们要讨论的是减充血剂。

Scientists who advise the FDA recently concluded that phenylephrine, a common decongestant in cold medicines, doesn’t work.

美国食品和药品管理局(FDA)的顾问科学家最近得出结论：感冒药中常见的减充血剂苯肾上腺素不起作用。

We’ll talk about what actually does.

我们将讨论它的实际作用。

I don’t know about you, Josh, but I have bad allergies and my sinuses are blocked pretty often.

乔什，我不知道你怎么样，但我过敏挺严重，而且有鼻窦炎，鼻子经常堵塞。

I’ve tried all sorts of things to help, from nasal sprays and decongestants to to antihistamines to hot showers.

我试过各种缓解方法，从鼻腔喷雾剂、减充血剂到抗组胺药，再到热水澡。

Some of these things help, some of them don’t.

这些方法有些有用，有些没用。

What helps you the most of all those things, Tanya?

哪种方法对你帮助最大，谭雅?

I find that the steroid nasal sprays work pretty well, but I don’t like to use them all the time.

我发现类固醇鼻腔喷雾剂效果很好，但我不喜欢一直用它们。

How come?

为什么？

Um, I just find that sometimes I develop a tolerance to it so it stops having the same effect.

我只是发现有时我对这种喷雾产生了耐受性，所以它不再有同样的效果。

Sometimes hot showers do help temporarily, but usually the congestion comes back.

有时洗热水澡确实能暂时缓解，但离开浴室通常鼻子又会堵上。

Yeah, and there’s only so long you can stand under a hot shower, right?

是啊，你只能在热水淋浴下站那么长时间，对吧?

Right.

对。

I’ve tried those saline sprays up my nose. They kind of flush things out and I feel more comfortable. But I have to use them for a bunch of days before I feel any difference.

我试过盐水洗鼻器喷鼻子。它们把东西都冲出来了，我感觉舒服多了。但我得用好几天才能有效果。

Yeah, those saline ones are pretty good.

对，盐水洗鼻器很不错。

Overall, I tend to go for decongestant tablets, which are supposed to reduce swelling inside my nose, opening up my airways.

总的来说，我倾向于吃减充血剂口服片，这种药可以减轻鼻内肿胀，打开呼吸道。

You’re not alone in preferring tablets.

你不是唯一一个喜欢吃减充血剂口服片的人。

One of the most popular decongestant ingredients is phenylephrine. It’s found in drugs like Sudafed PE, Benadryl Allergy D Plus Sinus, and Vicks Dayquil Cold and Flu Relief.

最流行的减充血剂成分之一是苯肾上腺素。这种成分存在于像Sudafed PE, Benadryl Allergy D Plus Sinus和Vicks Dayquil Cold and Flu Relief等感冒药中。

But earlier this month, in a rare move, an FDA advisory panel declared that oral phenylephrine is completely useless at clearing up congestion.

本月早些时候，FDA的一个顾问小组罕见地宣布，口服苯肾上腺素对缓解鼻塞完全无效。

That really surprised me. I’ve been buying cold and flu medicines for years. And I always look to see if a decongestant like phenylephrine is in the capsule.

这真的让我很惊讶。我买感冒药已经好几年了。我总是检查药囊里是否含有像是苯肾上腺素的减充血剂。

I’d heard for a while that it wasn’t that effective, but it’s in a lot of cold medicines.

我听说这种成分没有效果有一段时间了，但它还存在于很多感冒药中。

In fact, it became popular because the standard over-the-counter decongestant, pseudoephedrine —the active ingredient in regular Sudafed—got locked up behind pharmacy counters.

事实上，苯肾上腺素之所以很流行，是因为标准的非处方减充血药伪麻黄碱——普通Sudafed(感冒药)的有效成分——被锁在药店柜台后面。

That’s because it can be used as an ingredient in making methamphetamine.

这是因为苯肾上腺素可以作为制造冰毒的一种成分。

I remember that. In the mid-2000s, all these cold medicines were suddenly put behind plexiglass windows with padlocks on them.

我记得，在2005年左右，所有这些感冒药突然被锁在有机玻璃窗里。

I had to ask a pharmacist if I wanted some, and there was a limit to how much I could buy.

如果我想要这种药，还得问药剂师，而且我能买的数量还有限。