The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7178 p839-846
15 December 2001

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Little evidence for snoring 'cures'

Products sold as "cures" for snoring have been found to be lacking in a report by Health Which?.

A panel of reviewers, including a pharmacologist, a professor of pulmonary medicine, a lecturer in restorative dentistry, a herbalist and a homoeopath, looked at the evidence behind eight products which claim to reduce snoring. "Overall, we found that the evidence behind many products is far from convincing," says the report.

A particular worry of the reviewers was that tackling snoring without addressing sleep apnoea could be problematic. They suggested that product labelling should warn people to seek medical advice if they are concerned about heavy snoring and being sleepy during the day.

Another point raised by the reviewers was that there are different causes of snoring. "When products can only help certain types of snoring this should be clear on the packaging. Unfortunately . . . this was the exception rather than the rule." One product, Snorestop chewable tablets, states that the tablets are suitable for children. This was worrying because the labelling did not mention that snoring in children requires investigation, said one of the reviewers.

The products that fared best in the review were Ceuta Healthcare's Breathe Right nasal strips and Anglian Pharma's Nozovent. There was evidence to support the use of Breathe Right strips to improve nose-based snoring while Nozovent might help those whose snoring is caused by nasal obstruction.

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