Leaving aside the hype around household cold remedies, one questions remains: Do they actually work

or it's a fine combination between snake oil and the placebo effect?

The good news: A cold isn't a flu. They are both respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by entirely different viruses. Flu symptoms come on quickly (within 3-6 hours after contacting the virus) and consist of a fever, body aches, dry cough, and extreme tiredness. Cold symptoms are less severe and people experience a stuffy nose, productive cough, slight tiredness, and limited body aches.

The bad news: There is no cure for cold and flu so prevention should be your goal. An active approach to keeping colds and flu away is apt to make your whole life healthier. The most effective way for preventing the flu is to get the flu shot. It may not be natural, but it works better than anything else. Unfortunately, the anti-flu shot is powerless against the common cold.

We turn once more to mother nature to see how she can help, concomitantly trying to debunk or approve popular cold myths:

1. Zinc. The mineral zinc, available in over-the-counter lozenges, nasal sprays, and gels, may work by preventing the formation of proteins needed by a cold virus to reproduce, but the scientific facts are scarce only one well-designed study reported a positive effect on treating a cold with zinc nasal gel.

2. Vitamin C. An all-time classic. One 2007 study showed that if vitamin C is taken after a cold begins, it doesn't shorten the cold or make it less severe. But when it is taken daily as a preventive treatment - not just after that first sniffle - it can very slightly shorten cold duration, by about 8% in adults and by about 14% in children.

Very highly fit people - marathon runners, for instance - might cut their risk of a cold in half by taking the vitamin, the study also showed.

3. Echinacea. Another supplement that sparks a lot of controversy. Two recent studies on the natural remedy have yielded conflicting conclusions. In one 2007 study, University of Connecticut researchers concluded that echinacea decreases the odds of developing a cold by 58% and reduces its duration by 1.4 days. But a previous study by the University of Virginia and published in 2005 in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed no benefit from the herb in either reducing the severity of a cold infection or preventing a cold.

4. Chicken Soup. Again, can't prevent the common cold but it may help soothe inflammation.

That's despite the well-publicized report published in 2000 in which researchers reported that chicken soup, which they studied in the laboratory, may have an anti-inflammatory effect on easing symptoms of upper respiratory infections. But the report doesn't prove chicken soup does anything for cold symptoms because it didn't include a test of people nor include a placebo for comparison.

5. Water. The liquid that makes up over 50% of the human body and without sufficient levels you simply would not be able to function. It flushes your system, washing out the poisons as it rehydrates you. Water boosts overall immunity and it's the cheapest cold remedy you can get, so get plenty of it!

6. Yogurt. Some studies have shown that eating a daily cup of low-fat yogurt can reduce your susceptibility to colds by 25 percent. Researchers think the beneficial bacteria in yogurt may stimulate production of immune system substances that fight disease.

7. Aloe vera. This miracle plant from the desert contains 95% water, but it's magic does not linger in the water, the magic of aloe vera is in that 5% of solids that is suspended in the water and are known as working ingredients.

Aloe vera contains over 20 minerals, all of which are essential to the human body. The human body requires 22 amino acids for good health -- eight of which are called "essential" because the body cannot fabricate them. Aloe vera contains all of these eight essential amino acids, and 11 of the 14 "secondary" amino acids. Aloe vera also has Vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E. Vitamins cannot be manufactured within the body, and some cannot be stored by the body, so it is necessary for the diet to sustain a continuous supply.

Aloe vera will also help prevent the side-effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs which doctors usually prescribe during a cold or flu episode.