I discovered Blackmore’s Immunodefense about 4 months ago, in the throes of one of the worst colds I’d ever had – we’re talking a couple of weeks, not days. Within 24 hours of first taking it, I felt 100)% better, and have been taking it off and on ever since, at the first sign of any slight headache, snuffle or chill. So far so good, I’ve felt very healthy – if this keeps up for more than a year without a cold, I’ll say this is definitely more than a placebo affect – my partner however reckons it’s bollocks :P

Kath, thanks for letting me know about your experience with lactoferrin. The Blackmore’s product is very similar to Codral’s.

The Wikipedia entry on lactoferrin has some links to the research. I think the debate is not over whether it has an effect but how much of an effect. And whether it’s suitable for other, more serious illnesses.

Good luck with your cold-free year!

I used this Codral Immune Boost for two days and got extreme nausea and mild diarohhrea…I think I would rather my body take it’s own time in fighting this cold!

Okay well I work fulltime in a call center for Foxtel, naturally one of the worst places to be in when people have a cold.
I originally got started on Blackmore’s products, such as “Cold Combat” which upon closer inspection was only a combination of Echinacia, Garlic and Vitamin C. Suffice to say, it helped a tiny bit, but really did nothing to take the edge off a cold.
The pharmacist around the corner from my work started to get to recognise me from my frequent visits and suggested I try Immune Boost.
I took two tablets a day, every day and never once caught even the mildest hint of a cold. This is while being in a small room with 15 other people, ALL of which had the flu and were coughing like 5-pack-a-day smokers.
It works.

Now here’s the issue.

If I go a day or two without taking it, I straight away start to feel like I’m coming down with a cold. I don’t know if this is because my body’s become reliant on Immune Boost, or whether working in a call centre isn’t the best enviroment to ween myself off it, but from experience – take it in cycles, it works well but it’s best left for the leadup to a cold to reduce severity.

Nigel, thanks so much for letting us know about your experience. Almost any stressful office environment is a great breeding ground for colds and flus. So you’re right about a call centre being one of the worst places.

I doubt your body will have become reliant on the lactoferrin. It’s more likely that the call centre environment is increasing your exposure to viruses and your body is just not quite able to fend them off. I would only take the product when necessary, and you should have less need for it in the warmer months.

There are also other steps you can take, to keep yourself cold free. Take a look at my post on fending off winter viruses.

And well done to your pharmacist for recommending a preventative product.

I general catch the flu 2-3 time a year, while I took Codral immune booster I never had any sickness at all. I would take it at the first sign of sore throat, headache. This is over a 12-14 month period.I was very pleased with this product, its a shame I am having difficult obtaining it nowdays.

It’s obviously hard to prove anything with anecdotal evidence, and I’m pretty skeptical about most ‘natural’ supplements. But this one at least made sense to me, so I tried it – not like just swallowing some random herb, but upping the presence of a glycoprotein that you have anyway. This strikes me as natural medicine at its most sensible.

So far, the results have been pretty astonishing. I typically go down with every illness around, and suddenly this season I am like super-immune, fighting off one thing after another. My wife has been sick for months with heavy illnesses, and I didn’t come down with them.

Furthermore, this season in Victoria is shocking. And my job requires me to constantly visit sick people.

The only thing I have changed is taking Lactoferrin, two a day, and if I start feeling run down or like I might be coming down with something, I ramp up the dose to four a day.

You know, I have always been kind of a readily sick person, and I also have not drunk cows milk since I was four (I currently drink soy milk). Finding out that this stuff is naturally in cows milk makes me wonder if I have been sicker than everyone else because of the soy lacking Lactoferrin, so I have less support of my immune system than most people.

At least it makes sense that this product would help, and anecdotally so far I would have to call the results remarkable. Good enough to make me keep spending the money, anyway.

I believe Codral has stopped making it, though, I’m not sure why. The Blackmores product is pretty expensive, so I have been using a generic brand from a priceline pharmacy.

Matt