Covering your chest with brown paper and vinegar, soaking your feet in hot water, or wearing wet socks the old cures for the common cold can seem laughable in light of modern medicine.
Yet the apparent benefits of many of the treatments we take for granted today such as dosing up on vitamins or snorting salt water evaporate under scrutiny. So what works and what doesn’t? BBC Future has sifted through the evidence to find out.