Those suffering from a runny nose or cough may want to turn to Zinc – the element at the end of the alphabet – according to a post on the New York Times’ health blog.

According to a collaboration of Zinc studies done by the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, subjects who used Zinc within 24 hours of experiencing cold symptoms cut the duration of their illness by a day or more on average, and experienced less severe symptoms.

The authors of the review stopped short of recommending specific doses or Zinc-based products, citing the need for more research.

So don’t dump all your Airborne down the toilet and make a grocery store run just yet.