Are your kids really sick or is it all in their head? The story in Wednesday’s Medical Moment.

Cold and flu season are in full swing, but what do you give tyour kids to relieve them from sniffles and sneezes. Researchers at Penn State say over the counter cough syrup work no better than placebos.

So why not try a sugar pill to help them? Heres a look at a Dad who fixes everything from a tummy ache to fevers and colds with a shot full of nothing

When do you give medication to kids and when do you hold off?

"Doctors don't believe in what I do," father Barack Levin said.

Barack Levin chooses placebos to help his children.

"The placebo effect, for me, is to give the kids the feeling that they're taking medication when they're not really taking anything," son Eden said.

"It looks a little like juice, but it's not a kinda juice. It's a medicine that's red," Eden said.

One dose usually does it. But some physicians believe parents could end up playing a dangerous game of deception.

"It's not just mind over matter. It's dangerous for the relationship and for trust in medicine," Tor Wagner PhD., Psychologist at Columbia University said.

At least one study shows that placebos can be effective even if the children know what they are. Seventy children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were asked to reduce their medications gradually by replacing some of the drugs with placebo pills.

"In ADHD in kids, you can reduce the dose of the real medicine, substitute placebo pills and get the same effect on ADHD," Dr. Walter Brown, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry from Brown University and Tufts University School of Medicine said.

After three months, 80-percent of the children reported that the placebo had helped them. In another child's study of 83 kids with irritable bowel syndrome, 57-percent felt better after placebo. Two percent felt worse. Barack does agree with doctors when it comes to putting the placebo away.

He says that if his child's problem does not go away within a few hours, he will give them medication or take them to a doctor, but for the most part.

So many parents are turning to placebos that there is now a company called Efficacy Brands that sells chewable, cherry-flavored dextrose tablets.

Obecalp stands for placebo spelled backwards. Fifty pills sell for $5.95

Because they don't contain drugs, they are not FDA approved.

PLACEBO BACKGROUND: According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a placebo is usually a pharmacologically inert preparation prescribed more for the mental relief of the patient than for its actual effect on a disorder, something that is tending to soothe. The use of placebo pills is often compared to "mind over matter" healing. Placebo is an important phony treatment used to keep doctors and patients honest in clinical trials. It is used to prove if a drug works.
Placebo pills are commonly used in birth control packs to ensure that you do not fall out of habit and keep an everyday pattern (Source: Associated Content). Recently, new studies show that nearly half of United States doctors surveyed have prescribed a placebo pill at some point. This high use of placebos has ignited ethical questions among many doctors. (Source: Reuters)

PLACEBOS AND ADHD: Placebos are making their mark in the world of ADHD prescriptions. According to Science Daily, a study out of Chapel Hill showed a significant percentage of children with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder doing just as well when taking placebo to replace some of their daily medications. The study indicated that children can be treated with lower doses of medication with a placebo supplement. Researchers have also found that there are four ways a placebo can have an effect on ADHD patients:

• Child expects change with direct use of a medication.
• Positive change of caregiver's perception of children who think they are taking medication.
• Positive change in how caregivers behave towards children with ADHD who think they are on medication
• Routine behavioral improvement when connected to administering a
placebo pill. (Source: Psych Central)

OBECALP AND EFFICACY BRANDS: Obecalp, "placebo" spelled backwards, is a chewable, cherry-flavored sugar pill marketed to parents to comfort children who are not feeling well. Obecalp is the first standardized, branded and pharmaceutical-grade placebo in the world. Obecalp is produced as a dietary supplement and is not FDA approved because it does contain any drugs. Obecalp is available online at http://www.inventedbyamommy.com.

For More Information, Contact:
Walter A Brown, MD
Brown University/Tufts University School of Medicine
Walter_brown@brown.edu

Tor Wager, PhD
Columbia University
Tor.Wager@Colorado.edu