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We all know that pesky feeling of having a persistent dry cough that seems to almost enjoy causing our throats grief. To help you crush your cough, and keep your throat soothed along the way, we've ranked the top 10 best cough sweets and lozenges online in the UK to give you some sweet and instant relief!
From Ricola to Fisherman's Friend, we've compared the wide range of cough sweets and throat lozenges on Amazon, Tesco, Boots, Asda and more. Whether it's a menthol blast or soothing honey and lemon, after reading this buying guide, you can rest easy knowing your sore throat's days are numbered.
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Table of Contents
To ensure you remain in driver's seat of life when a nasty cough is on the horizon, this simple buying guide is here to help you choose the right throat sweets and lozenges . By looking at the iconic flavours, in addition to whether they're medicated, sugar-free and vegan, will land you on your soon-to-be secret-weapon for throat soothing and protection!
Getting the flavour of your chosen cough lozenge right is incredibly important as you'll likely be needing more than one to see you through a stubborn cough. Make sure to choose a flavour that appeals to you, as well as one with throat-soothing properties.
Menthol is an aromatic and organic compound that's derived from the peppermint and spearmint plants, although peppermint has a 40% higher concentration than spearmint. It's widely used when going into battle with a cough because of its sweet and spicy flavour that soothes the throat and freshens the breath.
Another popular option that's super effective for soothing sore throats is honey and lemon. Certainly less spicy than menthol, honey and lemon is a great choice for kids to benefit from and enjoy. Other favourites include blackcurrant, cherry, elderflower and the Australian native plant, eucalyptus, which helps the throat to relax in times of need.
Medicated lozenges offer some much needed respite from the associated pain of a cough and sore throat. When you suck on a medicated lozenge, the anaesthetic medicine dissolves and releases into your throat, which gives instant, but temporary, pain relief from a cough.
Different brands include various anaesthetic medicines in their cough lozenges to aid in pain relief. However they will all be mild over-the-counter medicines. Just be sure to scope out the finer print on whether the medicine is approved for children, pregnancy and breastfeeding, which, thankfully, most of them are!
If you'd prefer to go down the more natural route for either yourself or your children, there are plenty of brands that put focus on the soothing element of their lozenges instead. These natural sweets and lozenges use a variety of herbs, spices and flavours to offer a completely natural remedy to reduce soreness caused by a dry, inflamed throat.
Lozenges, for the most part, are incredibly tasty, mouth-watering morsels. Which is why many of us don't mind taking them. However, to help this desirable flavour profile along, most brands tend to slip quite a bit of sugar into their recipes.
While the sugar from one lozenge is unlikely to throw your diligent dieting off, it's when you polish off a whole pack in a day or two that it starts to become a problem. This is why a few health-focused brands are now proudly producing sugar-free lozenges.
Stevia is a natural sweetener that's often used as a sugar alternative. Being both free from calories and carbs makes it an obvious choice for people watching their weight. Aspartame is another popular (albeit a little controversial) artificial sweetener that's 200 times sweeter than sugar, meaning very little is needed to sweeten the deal.
While pretty much every cough sweet and lozenge for sale in the UK is vegetarian by default, that's certainly not the case when it comes to being vegan. Honey is one of the most popular additions for its smooth and soothing texture, but this ultimately makes a fair portion of lozenges a big 'no no' for strict vegans.
Although menthol and the other common fruity-flavours don't feature ingredients derived from animals, a lot of them still can't be labelled as vegan due to the factories they are produced in.
Gelatine, milk and egg are the three main offenders that have the potential to be found in trace amounts in cough sweets and lozenges. This is due to other sweets and products produced in these factories using these animal ingredients in their recipes.
Unfortunately, where there's one sore throat there's usually a few more within the family. The contagious nature of colds is why a multi-pack of lozenges is a good idea for when flu season starts rearing it's nose-dripping, cough-riddled head.
If you'll stop at nothing in your total cough-dominating quest, then be on the lookout for multi-packs that offer up to 24 individual packs of lozenges. These mega-packs are purposed to see any family through a few long bouts with a cold, and still have some packs up your sleeve.
We understand that 24 packs is perhaps far too many for one or two people to work their way through. So if you'd like a multi-pack to see you and your partner out the other side, then one somewhere in the three to six pack range should suffice for your throat soothing needs.
Products | Image | Click to purchase | Price | Key features | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Strepsils Extra Triple Action Lozenges | £4.26 Mid | Curb Your Cough With These Mighty Medicated Lozenges | ||
2 | Fisherman's Friend Original|Pack of 24 | Original Lozenge of the Seven Seas | |||
3 | Ricola Sugar-Free Elderflower Sweets|Pack of 10 | £12.75 High Mid | Natural Sugar-Free Sweets Packed With Herbs | ||
4 | Strepsils Honey & Lemon Lozenges | £4.65 Mid | Lozenges to Soothe Pain and Help Fight Bacteria | ||
5 | Jakemans Honey & Lemon Menthol | Console Your Achey Breaky Throat With Honey and Lemon | |||
6 | Covonia Double Impact Berry Blast Lozenges | £2.26 Low Mid | Powerful Menthol Lozenge With a Blast of Berry | ||
7 | Lockets Extra Strong Cough Sweets|Pack of 5 | £3.59 Mid | Extra Strong Menthol and Honey Medicated Sweets | ||
8 | Halls Sugar-Free Cherry Sweets|Pack of 20 | £14.62 High Mid | Cheap Sugar-Free Cherry and Menthol Sweets |
If you've got a particular persistent cough that's been slowing you down far too long, then there's really no better cough sweet than Strepsils. Their Extra Triple Action blackcurrant lozenge is a tried, tested, and tried again remedy that gives fast acting and sustained results.
They contains the active ingredient Hexylresorcinol to fight the infection off at the source, whilst offering some pleasing relief for the throat. A potent, no fuss lozenge for the people who don't have the time for a sore throat in their lives!
Does it get any more iconic than Fisherman's Friend? The original menthol and eucalyptus cough sweet has roots dating back to 1865, having supplied the UK fishing industry with a potent menthol liquid to steady their ailments when out at sea.
Even though it's now sold in over 100 countries worldwide, Fisherman's Friend remains a family run business that wears its heart on its sleeve. Consider this 24 multi-pack of their most treasured and potent recipe to knock your families next cough out to sea!
Doing sugar-free the right way, Ricola are a cough sweet company striving to provide relief in the most natural of ways. Sweetened with stevia, these elderflower sweets are gluten-free, lactose-free, sugar-free, vegan and are packed full of herby goodness.
This natural recipe enables anyone with worries about sneaky ingredients to suck these sweets in confidence. If elderflower doesn't tickle your fancy, then no need to stress, there's cranberry, lemon-mint, liquorice and mountain mint to relieve, entice and delight!
Needing but no introduction, Strepsils are the go to medicated lozenge brand of the UK. This is their honey & lemon offering, with a recipe that includes not one, but two antiseptic medicines for some instant, gratifying pain relief!
These cough lozenges are intended to be used for symptomatic relief of mouth and throat infections. This means if you've got a particularly nasty cough, Strepsils have got your back - or should that be throat?
Established in 1907, Jakemans are another British company that know the throat-soothing game well. These are their honey & lemon cough sweets, that also feature menthol, for a sure-fire freshening and soothing delight!
If honey & lemon doesn't do it for you, then there are six other distinct flavours to choose from, to ensure everyone with a tickle coming on is accounted for. Obviously, being non-medicated limits their pain relief potential, but in terms of taste, there are none sweeter.
Covonia's Double Impact lozenge is positively brimming with powerful menthol producing vapour, to ensure your throat gets some much needed relief. This is their berry blast flavour, which helps to soften the menthol and leaves you with a sweet tasting sensation.
Only slight note of concern is the price, as for one pack of non-medicated lozenges, they're certainly not the cheapest. However, knowing that they're still handmade in Yorkshire the traditional way is a nice touch which adds to the Covonia story.
Lockets extra strong cough sweets are packed full of menthol, eucalyptus and honey to give your cough a swift and powerful knock on the head.
Although sold as 'medicated' on closer inspection of the ingredients list, there is clearly no medicine to speak of. This term is likely used in reference to the inclusion of 15.8mg of menthol. We'll let you make your own mind up about that one, but one thing is for certain - this sweet will relieve!
If you're into the sweet and tart flavour of cherry, then these inexpensive sugar-free cough sweets are guaranteed to satisfy. There's also the all important throat-clearing menthol in the mix, for a truly tantalising sweet to soothe.
This particular deal on Amazon includes 20 packs of 10 sweets, to give the whole family some sugar-free cough relief when they need it most. Just be aware that these lozenges are sweetened with aspartame, which some may wish to avoid.
Being ill-equipped allows that nasty cough or cold to linger longer than you'd probably like. Worry not, we've ranked the top 10 best teas for colds, mug warmers and reusable hand warmers to give you a good and fighting chance to feel your cosiest when congested!
With so many of us leading busy lives these days, the show must go on in spite of a pesky cough. We hope this article was useful in helping you to find some irresistibly sweet and soothing treats to keep you up to speed!
Author: Connor Macanally
No. 1: Strepsils|Extra Triple Action Lozenges
No. 2: Fisherman's Friend|Original|Pack of 24
No. 3: Ricola|Sugar-Free Elderflower Sweets|Pack of 10
No. 4: Strepsils|Honey & Lemon Lozenges
No. 5: Jakemans|Honey & Lemon Menthol
View Full RankingThe descriptions of each product are referenced from content available on manufacturer, brand, and e-commerce sites.
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